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History and Legend of 

Howard Avenue and the 

Serpentine Road, Grymes 

Hill, Staten Island 



Gathered by Charles Gilbert Hine 

From Real Estate Records and 

Long Memories 



" One generation passeth away, and another gen- 
eration Cometh: but the earth abideth forever." 



Hine's Annual, 1914 






Privmtei^ Printed 



cm 

Author 

m 20 ,9,5, 



Hine Brothers Printery 



Prologue 

"Men toil," he said, "from mom till night 
With bleeding hands and blinded sight 
For gold, more gold! They have be- 
trayed 

The tm^ that in their souls was laid; 
Their fairy birthright they have sold 
For little disks of mortal gold; 
And now they cannot even see 
The gold upon the greenwood tree, 
The wealth of colored lights that pass 
In soft gradations through the grass. 
The riches of the love untold 
That wakes the day from grey to gold; 
And howsoe'er the moonlight weaves 
Magic webs among the leaves." 

Alfred Noyes. 




STAPLETOX AS IT APPEARS TO THE BENIGHTED 
TRAVELER ON GRYMES MILL. 

"THE HARBOR-LANTHORNS, EACH A SPARK, 
A PIN-PRICK IN THE SOLID DARK." 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

In that which is to follow I speak not as 
one having authority, but rather as a scribe 
who records the learning of others. 

Chiefly I am indebted to Mr. Edward C. 
Delavan, whose knowledge of land transfers 
on the island is exceptionally extensive and 
accurate, and who has been my guide to 
much that has proved of interest. To Mr. 
William T. Davis and his "Old Names and 
Places." To Messrs. Alfred De Groot, Dan- 
iel Wandel, Sheriff Denyse, E. D. Clark, 
who lived on Howard avenue from 1843 to 
1857; J. M. Betton, born in the Hunt 
house; Ralph M. Munroe, a frequent vis- 
itor at the Vanderbilt and Ward homes, 
and James Vreeland; to Mrs. James Mor- 
gan Davis, and Miss Violet Ward, who 
readily recalls that which came to her from 
her father, Gen. William G. Ward ; Mr. and 
Mrs. Joseph D. Lawrence, Miss Elizabeth 
Elliott, daughter of Dr. S. M. Elliott, Miss 
Mary S. Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. 
Morton, and to others in varying degrees 
whose memories have been my stepping- 
stones. 

his 
C. G. ? HINE. 
mark 



t 




ALEXAXDEU VOX HUMBOLDT IS t?AID TO HAVE PRONOUNCED THE VIEW 
PROM GRYMES HILL ONE OF THE GRANDEST AND MOST IMPOSING IN THE 
WORLD. BELOW LIKS STAPLETON AS WE SEE IT ON A WINTER NIGHT, WHILE 
BEYOND THE NARROWS BROOKLY'N'S MILKY' WAY" SHINES STRONG AND 
CLEAR. PROM ONE POINT JUST SOUTH OF EDDY STREET EIGHT LIGHT- 
HOUSES AND TWO LIGHT-SHIPS CAN BE SEEN ON A CLEAR NIGHT. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 

The general hi^ory and ^ory of 
the locality, including the several 
names that have been applied to 
Grymes Hill in the pa^ and their 
origin. Howr the Serpentine Road 
and Howard Avenue came to be 
opened and when; also other 
matters of a similar nature. 



IKE Marc Antony's friend, the 

L charms of Grymes Hill are of in- 
finite variety. It holds something 
for every human temperament, 
some new phase for every hour of 
the day and in every change of the 
weather. The morning mist and the lazily 
drifting smoke from a throng of breakfast 
fires in the valley ; the afternoon sun which 
picks out many a brilliant point along the far 
shore of the Narrows; the summer-night 
lights of the village beneath us ; the glittering 
necklace of the Shore road beyond, and the 
more distant lights on Coney Island, with the 
warning flashes from eight lighthouses and 
two lightships — the winter moon on freshly 
fallen snow turning night into a dream of 
beautiful mystery as the eye wanders off 
over the lowlands into the unseeable. 

These are but chapter headings for the 
multitudinous riches spread for all. 

A traveler whose homeward flight ends on 
Grymes Hill once picked up a magazine and 
therein saw depicted our familiar view illus- 
trating an article by Gorki, and under it 



Gorki on 
the View 



HOWARD AVENUE CBb 



Signal 
Hill 



Castleton 
Heights 

Capo di 
Monte 



Snake Hill 



Brimstone 
Hill 



Clove Hill 



the title, "The most beautiful view in the 
world." A good deal, it seems to me, for a 
foreigner to admit, even under such extenu- 
ating circumstances. 

The early history of Grymes Hill was lost 
before any recording angel looked into the 
matter, but, as the Indians touched not the 
high places except as hunting grounds, and 
the Dutch who followed were alike low- 
minded, it does not seem probable that this 
region made much history before 1830. 

Those first to settle on the island pre- 
ferred the low country and the water side. 
Messrs. Bankers and Sluyter reported in 
1676 that "The eastern part (of Staten Is- 
land) is high and steep, and has few inhab- 
itants," and so at least the Grymes Hill re- 
gion continued for one hundred and fifty 
years. 

The earliest name for the ridge, so far as 
known, was "Signal Hill." According to 
William T. Davis the British had a signal 
station here, and the name followed as a 
matter of course. Deeds of 1836 and there- 
about show that the hill was known as 
"Castleton Heights." Madame Grymes 
called her place "Capo di Monte," and for a 
time this name was applied to the entire 
ridge, to be succeeded later by the present 
appellation. Mr. Daniel Wandel tells me 
that in his youth the part of the hill which 
looks down on "Rocky Hollow," and which 
was all "briars and rabbits" was known as 
"Snake Hill," while the southeastern end 
which dominates the "Richmond road" was 
known as "Brimstone Hill." "You could 
smell the brimstone — can smell it now." 
Old deeds give this name, according to 
William T. Davis. The southern slope has 
also been known as "Clove Hill," while 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



the northern slope was at one time called 
"Brown's Hill" for the reason that E. G. 
Brown helped to erect the Lederle house 
on Louis street, and lived therein for some 
time. This region was also known as 
"Pole Hill," Mr. Taxter tells me, and he 
presumes it was because travelers over its 
slippery, soapstoned sides used alpenstocks 
or poles in their efforts to scale these 
craggy heights. 

The known history of interest begins with 
the advent of Major George Howard in 1830, 
and of Oroondates Mauran in 1831. 

At first Grymes Hill was part of the Don- 
gan possessions, which appear to have ex- 
tended as far to the eastward in these parts 
as the Norwood patent, which lay along 
the eastern foot of the hill. It so remained 
until some time before 1755, when a portion 
of its eastern slope was added to the farm 
of Cornelius Corson, which occupied the 
water front where now lies Stapleton. The 
deed covering this transfer was not re- 
corded and its exact date is not known. 
When Cornelius 2d dwelt with his fathers, 
1789, his three sons, Daniel, Cornelius and 
Richard, came into possession, each re- 
ceiving a strip which ran from the water to 
the hilltop. 

The account of Howard avenue and the 
Serpentine road which is to follow covers 
such items of history and legend concerning 
Grymes Hill as have come from the real 
estate records and by word of mouth, the 
printed histories containing almost nothing 
on the subject. The word "legend" is used 
advisedly, as much of the material is from 
the lips of those with long memories — one of 
which at least goes back to his childhood 



Brozmi's 1 1 HI 



Pole Hill 



Early 
Oivners 



HOWARD AVENUE ca, 



Turnpike 
j8j6 



Oroondates 
Mauran 



Howard 
Purchases 



Howard 
Avenue 



school days in Rocky Hollow — 1836. It is 
not always possible to make statements so 
received dovetail with that nicety which is 
commendable in a history, and consequently 
we call this the "history and legend of," etc. 

Barring the Turnpike, 1816, with which 
we have nothing in common at the present 
time, the first roads on the hill would appear 
to have been Eddy street, Howard avenue 
and Prospect (now Lewis, misspelled 
Louis,) street. 

When Oroondates Mauran purchased in 
183 1 the property which now lies between 
Eddy street and the Kendall place, Howard 
avenue and the Turnpike, it was stipulated 
in the deed that land should be set off on 
the north and east sides of the property for 
roads, and thus Eddy street and that part of 
Howard avenue came into being. The elbow 
in Eddy street occurs at a point where the 
Corson and Vreeland farms met and may 
be due to this fact and some fence or other 
field bound on one or both of the farms. 

Between the years 1830 and 1833 Major 
George Howard purchased forty-two acres, 
which included all land between Eddy and 
Louis streets, a strip along the north side 
of the latter and the present Hillard, Brui- 
nier, Martin and Stirn properties, and he is 
probably responsible for Louis, which he 
named Prospect street, and the northern 
portion of Howard avenue. That portion of 
the property which is represented by the 
Cisco place he retained for a home, the re- 
mainder he cut up into fifty-foot lots which 
were sold at auction on August i, 1836. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



Announcement of the auction sale 
of the Howard property on Aug- 
ust 1 , 1 836. With names of orig- 
inal purchasers. 

James Bleecker, Auctioneer. 

By James Bleecker and Sons. 
Sales Room 13 Broad St. Furness Buildins, 

Monday. Au«r. 1. (1836) 
12 o'clock at their Sales Room, 13 Broad St. 

Staten Island. — A number of building: sites, situated on 
tlie romantic heights of Staten Island, adjoining 
Howard Place, three-quarters of a mile from the 
steamboat landings at New Brighton, Tompkinsville 
and Bay House. 

The view from these grounds is unrivaled in this or any 
other country; the lots are of large dimensions 
bounded on the one side upon an avenue, and the 
Richmond turnpike on the other. 

The title has been strictly investigated and is undispu- 
table. 

Maps will be ready and furnished in a few days. 

Terms, 10 per cent on the day of sale, 40 per cent on 
the delivery of the deeds, and if desired, the balance 
can remain on bond and mortgage. — (From the New 
York Commercial Advertiser of July 30, 1836.) 
The sale was lield probably on the date advertised 

as all deeds are dated on the twentieth of that month. All 

the lots were sold except those on the northern side of 

Prospect street. 

Following is a list of the lots sold with names of 

purchasers and such items of Interest as the records 

yield. 

Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, 9, 10 and 11, Thomas Langworth, 

of the city of New York, Gentleman. Conslderatioi., 

$2,660. 

Nos. 5 and 6, Stephen H. Herrick of the city of New 

York, Merchant. Consideration, $800. 

Nos. 7 and 8, 41 and 42, Joshua Moses of the city of 

New York, Merchant. Consideration $1,620. 

Nos. 12 and 13. 31 and 36. Benjamin Pike, of the 

city of New York, Optician. Consideration, |2,045. 



6 



HOWARD AVENUE ca. 



Serpentine 
Road 



Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, Benjamin Wood of the 
town of Castleton, county of Richmond, Gentleman. Con- 
sideration, $3,520. 

No. 20, Wesley Cole, of the town of Castleton, etc. 
Consideration, $400. 

Nos. 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29, Thomas Hazard, of the 
town of Castleton, etc.. Gentleman. Consideration, $1,000. 

Nos. 22, 24, 26 and 28, William Rockwell, of the town 
of Castleton etc.. Physician. Consideration, $2,040. 

No. 30, Caleb T. Ward, of the town of Castleton, etc.. 
Gentleman. Consideration, $420. 

Nos. 32, 33 and 34, John Y. Cebra, of the city of 
New York, Merchant. Consideration, $1,420. 

No. 35, George Ackerly, of the city of New York, 
Gentleman. Consideration, $430. 

Nos. 37, 38, 39 and 40. Wyllis Blackstone, of the 
city of New York. Consideration, $1,520. 

Nos. 43 and 44, Samuel R. Smith, of the town of 
Castleton, etc. Consideration, $910. 

Thus we see that Major Howard sold 44 lots for 
$18,785, and had remaining 15 lots in addition to his home 
plot, which he later sold for $22,000. For all this land, 
42 acres, he paid $8,892.50, Showing a profit of $31,- 
893.60, less expenses of plotting and sale. 

Major Howard came in 1830. The deed to 
Madame Grymes's property, 1836, begins 
"all that certain tract, etc., lying on the 
west side of Howard avenue," etc. Thus 
Howard avenue was then an established 
fact. 

The Serpentine road was a later develop- 
ment. Madame Grymes had her private en- 
trance from the Richmond road; this was 
also the case with the Nesmith and Cunard 
properties, while Captain Vanderbilt had an 
entrance on the Clove road. 

The fact that it is a "road,"' and not an 
"avenue," is the best of evidence that the 
Serpentine grew as required, and was not 
laid out deliberately by any real estate 
boomer. Between the years 1836 and 1865 
the Nesmith family purchased a large tract 
through which the Serpentine road now 
runs fronting on the Richmond road, 
the Clove road and the Turnpike. These 
purchases were made from twenty-four sepa- 
rate property-owners, and necessitated the 
recording of about fifty deeds. In not one 
of these instruments is the Serpentine road 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



mentioned as a boundary line or in any way ; 
hence it would seem improbable that the 
road was a recognized highway during this 
period. The map of 1845 shows no such 
road. In the agreement of 1867, concern- 
ing Hillside avenue, noted elsewhere, the 
Serpentine road is mentioned by name. 

As Miss Violet Ward recalls it, the 
southern end of our beautiful roadway be- 
gan in a Nesmith cow trail from the grazing 
grounds along the Clove road to the stables 
on the top of the hill, which stood opposite 
the present El Paradiso. This was so nar- 
row that a carriage attempting it would be 
scratched by the briars on either hand. 
When General William G. Ward purchased 
— 1865 — he found that he had no access to 
any highway, and so he adopted the 
Nesmith cowpath by setting his fence back. 
At first Cunard at one end and Jacob Van- 
derbilt at the other fenced him off, as nei- 
ther was willing to contribute land for a pub- 
lic road, preferring that the village should be 
compelled to do the work. This trouble was 
finally straightened out, however, and grad- 
ually the road grew as necessity required, 
allowing the lay of the land to govern its 
course until it came to what we now know 
as the Drucklieb place, when it passed down 
the hillside west of Mr. Drucklieb's dwelling 
and, Mr. Drucklieb tells me, came out on the 
Richmond road at or near Broad street. 

Miss Ward makes this statement, know- 
ing that the Serpentine road is laid out on a 
map published in 1850, but she is quite sure 
that the mapmaker simply accepted the 
Nesmith cowpath, which was in those days 
so rough that no vehicle ever attempted it a 
second time if, by any chance, it could go 
the long way round. However, Mr. Munroe 



8 



HOWARD AVENUE CBt, 



Where 
Howard Av. 
and Serpen- 
tine Road 
Meet 



Hillside 
Avenue 



Howard 
Avenue 



writes "I dislike to take exception to the 
statements of my friend, Miss Ward, re- 
garding the Serpentine road, but my family 
left the Emerson Hill place about 1862 or 
1863 and I feel quite certain that between 
1857 ^^^ 1 86 1 we drove over that road 
many times to show visitors the wonderful 
view." 

Howard avenue ran into the Serpentine 
road at that obtuse angle in the Kendall 
stone wall which conceals the future, no 
matter which way one travels. Before the 
Serpentine became established as a public 
way, however, that part which ran through 
the Grymes (present Drucklieb) property 
was closed and the Serpentine road and 
Howard avenue became one. 

By an agreement made in 1867 between 
John P. Nesmith, George Browne, Edward 
Cunard and Eugene Dutilh, owners of the 
surrounding property, the private carriage 
road established some time previous to 1843, 
and known as Nesmith street, was closed 
and Hillside avenue, which included a small 
part of the older road, was opened for the 
mutual accommodation of the adjoining 
land-owners. 

It is proposed to begin our story at the 
northern end of Howard avenue and worry 
south over that and the Serpentine road, giv- 
ing the history as we go — geographically, 
rather than chronologically. 

As first laid out, Howard avenue was 
merely a private lane, gates being placed at 
Louis and Eddy streets, which were closed 
at night and opened in the morning. Why 
any one should desire to call a country road 
an "avenue" is one of those mysteries that 
only an alderman or a real estate promoter 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



can solve. Therefore, do not build up in 
your imagination a Howard avenue lined 
with palatial mansions set shoulder to 
shoulder, or gorgeous shops, but rather a 
winding country road bordered by the homes 
of those who would dwell apart from the 
hurry and noise of the city. And join with 
me in the hope that there is some particu- 
larly warm spot tucked away in the here- 
after for the author of such a desecration as 
"Avenue" in such a region as this. 

From Daniel Wandel comes the following 
story of what may have been the first steam 
railway on Staten Island. I have been un- 
able to verify this from any other source, but 
Mr. Wandel's memory appears to be clear in 
regard to even minute details, and he has 
told me the same story on two occasions 
without material variations. 

About 1842 or 1843 some resident of 
Grymes Hill conceived the idea of putting 
a cog road up its slope. The track was laid 
from Beach street, which was open at that 
time, about where it runs into St. Paul's 
avenue ; this track ran "slantindicularly" up 
the hillside, crossing the present Stirn and 
Davis properties and coming out on How- 
ard avenue at or near Eddy street; thence 
following the line of the present highway 
to the southern end of the hill. The rails 
consisted of flat strips of iron with cogs 
riveted thereon for the steep part of the 
climb, and were laid on four-foot cord wood 
sticks. The engine and rails were made in 
the blacksmith shop of Peter S. Wandel, 
which then stood near the shore just south 
of the old Nautilus Hall, Tompkinsville. 
The engine was small and crude and, ac- 
cording to Mr. Wandel, passengers strad- 
dled it. The chief use for which the road 



A Legend 



10 



HOWARD AVENUE CBb 



Prospect 
Hill 



was intended was to carry those dwelling at 
the southern end of the hill to a point from 
which they could easily walk to the ferry. 

It was, however, but a nine days' won- 
der, for while the engine climbed the slope 
well enough, the brakes were inadequate for 
the descent, and it returned to the lower re- 
gions with a suddenness that discommoded 
its promoters to the point of standing them 
on their heads, and was promptly consigned 
to that bourne from which no engine re- 
turns — the scrap heap. 

There is at least one irreconcilable among 
Mr. Wandel's statements which refuses to 
adjust itself. He thinks that the railroad 
was originated and built by a son of Gen- 
eral Ward, and that its southern end stopped 
at the Ward front door. General Ward did 
not purchase his property until 1865, and 
the General was only about ten years old 
when this is said to have happened. How- 
ever, Mr. Wandel is sure he was a small 
boy at the time, and that he remembers, as 
such, exploring the track as a healthy boy 
naturally would. 

Gordon Winslow did not purchase until 
1846, Jacob H. Vanderbilt in 1847, Sir Ed- 
ward Cunard in 1850. The map of 1845, 
given elsewhere, shows no road beyond the 
Nesmith place. Hence it would seem that 
the settlement was too sparse in 1842 to 
warrant such a venture. 

When the Stapleton flats were filled in 
with excavated material from Prospect Hill 
(east of the German Club Rooms) a tram 
road is said to have been laid by the con- 
tractors, it is of course possible that this is 
what Mr. Wandel had in mind. Miss Ward 
tells me that after her father built — 1865 — 
he and others, believing they had discovered 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



valuable minerals at this end of the hill, put 
through a small track to the Richmond road 
at or near Broad street, but this was merely 
to carry ore to the lower level and, so far 
as is known, no engine was included in the 
outfit. As the mining did not pay, the 
track was used but a short time, and those 
who fathered the scheme were so pestered 
by facetious references to their fairy gold 
that they refrained from conversing on the 
subject, and it was soon forgotten. 

In the open field and woods across the 
road from and opposite El Paradiso the 
fortune-hunters sunk a number of small 
shafts in their search for minerals. At the 
edge of the road and just within the prop- 
erty now fenced off for the water tower a 
considerable pit was digged, but all were 
filled in later as they became more or less 
successful traps for the unwary. 

Grymes Hill is known to geologists as 
an elevated dome of serpentine. The ser- 
pentine or soapstone area extends from 
New Brighton to Richmond, and includes 
the hill country of the island. In places 
where glacial erosion was limited the rock 
is weathered into a soft, yellowish, fractured 
condition to which the name "soapstone" 
is applied, but where the weathered stone 
was eroded the rock is hard and dense in 
texture and dark green in color. 

The following notes on the hill country 
of Staten Island are furnished by William 
T. Davis and, while covering more territory 
than is included in this book, are given in 
order to preserve the information: — 

"On the old map of Staten Island, made 
in the year 1793, probably by Bernard 
Sprong and Richard Conner, who received 
£13,8,0 for their labors, 'A Ridge of Moun- 



11 



Mining on 
Grymes Hill 



Geology of 
Gr\'nies Hill 



HiU Country 
of Staten 
Island 



12 



HOWARD AVENUE (®. 



tains' is shown. It extends from what is 
now called St. George to Fresh Kill Creek, 
that is, to a little beyond the village of Rich- 
mond, a distance in all of nearly seven 
miles. 

"To the early settlers this ridge of moun- 
tains was full of mystery. It was heavily 
wooded and there was a labyrinth of lesser 
hills and valleys covering part of the area, 
where it was easy to lose one's way. We 
now know that these lesser hills are part 
of the terminal moraine of the great 
glacier. The main backbone of the ridge, 
Archean however, is Archean Serpentine, one of the 
Serpentine oldest formations of the earth, and into this 
soft rock the early settlers dug holes in 
their search for precious metals that were 
supposed to be present in considerable 
abundance. In the patent to John Palmer 
in 1687, which covered the land along the 
ridge of mountains and much more, we 
read that he was to have all the * . . . 
marshes, woods, underwoods, trees, timber, 
quarries, rivers, brooks, ponds, lakes, 
streams, creeks, harbors, beaches, ffishing, 
hawking and ffowling, mines, minerals 
(silver and gold mines only excepted), 
mills, mill dams,' etc. This land was later 
conveyed by Palmer and his wife to 
Thomas Dongan. 

"A critical examination of the range of 
hills will show that its eastern declivity is 
generally much more precipitous than the 
western slope, and in this feature resembles 
the Orange Mountains, the Kittatinny 
Mountains and other parallel ridges to the 
westward of Staten Island. Fort Hill, near 
St. George; Mount Tompkins or Pavilion 
Hill; Ward's Hill; Signal Hill; Capo di 
Monte or Grymes Hill; Brimstone Hill; 



GRTMES HILL, IN 1845. 



i\ 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



Todt Hill; Iron Hill or the Yserberg; 
Ocean Hill or Ocean Terrace; Richmond 
or Latourette's Hill; and Ketchum's or 
Cemetery Hill are names for some of the 
individual prominences of the 'Range of 
Mountains' of the old-time map of 1793." 



GRYMES HILL IN 1845. 



13 



From a "Map of New Brighton, Tompklnsvllls, 
Stapleton and Clifton. Surveyed and Drawn by C. H. 
Blood, 1845". 

The original Is the property of William T. Davis and 
la the only one in existence so far as he knows. 

This is a literal copy even to the extent of following 
misspelled names. 

Dotted lines on the original map Indicate that th« 
road from the Nesmlth houses to Howard avenue was a 
private way, as was the road through the lower Gryme* 
property to the Richmond road. 

Duncan avenue looks as though it was originally a 
Mauran stable entrance. 

Note thrt: 

Louis street was a mere connecting link. 

Anthon Is Anthem. 

Mauran is Maran. 

Grymes is Grimes. 

Silver Lake was Fresh Pond. (On a map of 1850 It la 
' Fresh Pond or Silver Lake.") 

The north and south line that divides the Mauran 
property if carried north to the Turnpike would be con- 
tinued by the boulder line mentioned elsewhere as * 
division line of the Vreeland farm. 

The English name of the .T. P. Nesmlth place, "In- 
wood", Is as a one word translation of the Indian name, 
"Monocnong," adopted by Mr. Mauran. 

The Serpentine road was not In existence except that 
portion which shows as a private drive from the Nesmlth 
houses to Howard avenue. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



15 



PROLOGUE 

By 

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. 

"One Sunday I went with him a few miles 
into the country. It was a soft, bright day ; 
the fields and hills lay turned to the sky, 
as if every leaf and blade of grass were 
nerves bared to the touch of the sun. I 
almost felt the ground warm under my feet. 
The meadows waved and glittered, the 
lights and shadows were exquisite, and 
the distant hills seemed only to remove the 
horizon farther away. As we strolled along, 
picking wild-flowers, for it was in summer, 
I was thinking what a fine day it was for 
a trip to Spain, when Titbottom suddenly 
exclaimed : — 

" 'Thank God ! I own this landscape I' 

"'You,' returned I. 

" 'Certainly,' returned he. 

" 'Why,' I answered, 'I thought this was 
part of Bourne's property?* 

"Titbottom smiled. 
" 'Does Bourne own the sun and sky? Does 
Bourne own that sailing shadow yonder? 
Does Bourne own the golden luster of the 
grain, or the motion of the wood, or those 
ghosts of hills that glide pallid along the 
horizon? Bourne owns the dirt and fences; 
I own the beauty that makes the land- 
scape.' " 

—From "Prue and I." 



16 



HOWARD AVENUE CS, 



Fingerboard for off-islanders -who 
would know Grymes Hill — 
Ferry from Battery to St. George. 
Silver Lake trolley to Louis ^reet, 
tandem, one foot before the other, 
to Howard Avenue. 



Lewis 
Street 



Prospect 
Street 



HOWARD 



AVENUE— THE 
TINE ROAD. 



SERPEN- 



THIS way of ours reminds me of a 
corkscrew — Louis street the handle, 
Howard avenue the shank and the 
devious meanderings of the Serpen- 
tine road the business end of the 
instrument. We shall investigate 
each in its turn. 

Louis street should be Lewis street, so it 
is said. But there is a small-sized mystery 
that I have been unable to fathom as to 
what Lewis it was intended to honor. As 
late as 1874 the street was known as Pros- 
pect (see Beers's atlas of that date), a deed 
of 1882 spells the name "Louis" while 
several deeds of 1874, a deed of 1876 and one 
of 1886 refer to it as "Lewis"; the present 
telephone directory also carries the latter 
spelling. 

Miss Lederle tells me that it was so enti- 
tled because a Dr. Lewis lived in the house 
now known as the Lederle homestead about 
the time her father purchased in 1878. But 
no doctor of the name is on record as having 
owned the property, none of the local his- 
tories note such a name and I do not find 
any one else who knew of such a doctor. 
Mr. J. D. Lawrence has been told that the 




THE SUGAH LOAF OR DRUID'S ROCK, SOUTHWEST CORNER OF LEWIS 
STREET AND HOWARD AVENUE. THIS ROCK IS SAID TO HAVE FORMERLY' 
BEEN A GATHERING PLACE FOR THE INDIANS, WHO WERE IN THE HABIT 
OF CAMPING HERE WHEN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



17 



street was named for Father Lewis, a well 
known priest and a very popular man; no 
one else has been found who can verify this, 
but several of the old-timers think it quite 
possible. 

Our all-wise city fathers probably jumped 
at the conclusion that the street was named 
for Louis De Jonge, or possibly some equally 
astute sign painter may have been allowed 
to exercise his own good judgment in the 
matter of spelling street signs. 

Louis street, formerly Prospect street, 
and Howard avenue, may have been laid 
out by Major George Howard in 1836 to 
open property which he introduced to 
the public. A map of 1845 indicates that 
only that part from the Turnpike to How- 
ard avenue was then in use. Louis street 
commences on the right with Sugar Loaf 
field and on the left with the Dejonge 
paper factory. 

In 1852-3 Julius De Jonge "merchant of 
the city of New York" purchased the fifteen 
lots along the north side of Prospect street 
numbered from 45 to 59, Howard map. 
The property was then transferred to Louis 
De Jonge who erected a small factory at the 
Turnpike corner which has since grown to 
the present proportions. 

Beyond the paper factory and on the left 
as we go stands the De Jonge homestead, 
erected v^'hen the business was much more 
modest than at present. This was pur- 
chased in 1872 by Dr. John E. Lauer, a 
chemist. In 1886 it was the property of 
Constance Mullmann though I do not seem 
to have discovered just when the transfer 
was made. The lady is commonly referred 
to as the "countess" ; she was an educated 
woman said to have come from abroad. Lo- 



Julhts 
De Jonge 



De Jonge 
Honiesteaii 



Dr. John 
E. Laner 

Constance 
M nihnann 



18 



HOWARD AVENUE CSt, 



J. F. 
Fredericks 



T. W. Stake 



E. G. Brown 

Dr. Kenneth 
Reid 

Clara 
J. Lederle 



Brown's 
Hill 



cal stories agree that she, being a devout 
Catholic, gave this place and in fact all she 
had to the church expecting that a convent 
would be erected here of which she would 
be the mother superior, but finding that for 
some reason, possibly because she was a 
married woman, she was not eligible, she 
objected so strenuously to the situation that 
in order to quiet her a portion of the prop- 
erty was returned and she left the neighbor- 
hood. 

The next house, still on the left is that of 
J. F. Fredericks erected in 1886 on a portion 
of the Lederle property, Mr. Fredericks 
having married a daughter of the house of 
Lederle. 

Next east stands the Lederle homestead, 
now occupied by T. William Stake. The 
place was purchased in 1878 by Joseph 
Lederle and has remained in the family ever 
since. 

In 1870 Louis De Jonge sold the eastern 
end of his property, some 309 feet along 
Prospect street, to E. G. Brown and Dr. 
Kenneth Reid, consideration $6,000. In 1876 
these sold to Elizabeth S. Beemer for $20,- 
000 and in 1877 she to Eliza Livingston and 
the following year she to Clara J. Lederle. 

Edward Graham Brown is recalled by 
some of the older neighbors as poor, but 
proud, a lawyer by profession and a gentle- 
man by practice. He evidently made an 
impression on the locality as this part of the 
hill was known for a time as "Brown's 
Hill", but more than this I have been unable 
to discover. Probably he lived in one side 
of the house and Dr. Reid in the other, as 
Miss Lederle tells me that when her father 
purchased it was a double dwelling. 

None appear to remember Dr. Reid, while 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



the brief ownership of Mrs. Beemer and 
Mrs. Livingston possibly signify that they 
did not occupy the premises. 

Beyond Howard avenue, and on the right 
as we travel, are two houses, the exact date 
of which is uncertain, the Bruinier and the 
Hillard homes. (In mentioning places, the 
first name in each instance will be that of 
the present owner.) 

The Harry Roberts Hillard house, whose 
commanding position includes so much of 
the view that a stranger might easily be- 
come lost therein, crowns the highest part 
of the ridge here. From an abstract of title 
we learn that this is part of a large tract 
of land which in 17 18 was owned by Ellis 
Duxbury and which by will he devised to 
the rector of St. Andrew's Church, it being 
thereafter known as the "Glebe," in fact one 
of the Glebe boundary lines cuts al- 
most precisely through the centre of the 
Hillard house. In 1814 the Legislature au- 
thorized the church to sell the tract, where- 
upon Daniel D. Tompkins added the greater 
part thereof to his earthly possessions. 

From Tompkins it passed to Caleb T. 
Ward and thence, about 1833, to Major 
George Howard, who in 1836 plotted this 
and the surrounding territory in fifty foot 
lots, and invited the public to buy. This 
section extended east from Howard avenue 
three hundred and sixty-eight feet; begin- 
ning at the avenue, four lots were sold to 
Willis Blackstone (present Bruinier), the 
next two lots to Joshua Moses, and the re- 
maining frontage of sixty-eight feet to 
Samuel R. Smith (present Hillard). These 
were probably speculative purchases as 
none of the purchasers built. Between the 
years 1846 and 1851 Charles Keutgen ac- 



19 



Harry R. 

Hillard 

House 



Glebe Bound- 
ary Line 



Willis Black- 
stone, Joshua 
Moses 

Sam'l R. 
Smith 

Chas. Kciit- 
i]cn 



20 



HOWARD AVENUE (S. 



Sam'l R. 
Smith 



quired all of this property, and it is probable 
that he built both houses as maps of 1845 
and 1850 which are believed correct do not 
show any houses here. Mrs. Emma 
Schering, daughter of Charles Keutgen, was 
born in the Hillard house and is certain 
that her father erected both it and the 
Bruinier home. 

The later transfers of the Hillard place 
are as follows : — 

In 1870-2 Keutgen to Anton M. Mosle. 

1887 Mosle to James C. McAndrew. 

1894 McAndrew to William Rockstroh. 

1900 Rockstroh to Harry R. Hillard. 

The Samuel R. Smith, who purchased 
these lots from Howard in 1836, was the well- 
known physician, after whom the Smith 
Infirmary is named. Although he died in 
1851, stories illustrating his goodness and 
large heartedness are still current. I have 
an incident from Mr. De Groot which does 
not appear in any of the histories: — 

"One very dark night, the doctor was 
driving along a lonely road when a man 
sprang for the horse's head and demanded 
his money with the usual formula. The 
doctor recognized the voice as that of the 
wayward son of a good family, and ad- 
dressed him by name promising that if he 
would turn over a new leaf and keep it 
turned he, the doctor, would never say any- 
thing about the matter." 

Miss Benham relates a story which she, 
when a young girl, heard from the doctor's 
own lips: "One night on a lonely road, the 
doctor was held up by a highwayman, who 
was so savage that the traveler feared for 
his life, but he expostulated with the man, 
told him who he was, stating that he had 
no doubt attended some member of the 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



ruffian's own family in the past, whereupon 
the fellow walked off without offering fur- 
ther violence." The doctor was noted for 
his philanthropy and attentions to the sick 
poor, for which he seldom received remu- 
neration. 

The doctor had ideas of his own con- 
cerning the care of his horses, which of 
necessity were driven very hard at times. 
His method of feeding was to dump a bag 
of oats in the manger and allow the horse 
to eat as much and as often as he wished, 
and no matter how hot the animal might be 
he was permitted to drink his fill under 
any and all circumstances. Daniel Wandel, 
who tells me this, says that the doctor 
never foundered a horse. Trips were long 
and the going sometimes very heavy; it 
was the doctor's habit to stop along the 
way at times and hire a horse, leaving his 
own tired animal to recuperate. 

The house was at one time occupied by a 
well known champion of the manly art, 
"Billy" Clarke, a boxer of note. Mr. Law- 
rence when a young man frequented the 
place in company with Dr. S. R. Elliott, 
who, he states, was the only man who 
could stand up in front of the professional. 

The Ansco G. Bruinier home stands at 
the corner of Louis street and Howard 
avenue. As told in the note on the HJJlard 
property George Howard sold this corner 
in 1836 to Willis Blackstone, and he in 
1 85 1 to Charles Keutgen. In 1862 the house 
was leased to John S. Tuttle and John 
W. Stout, Jr. When Keutgen sold and to 
whom, is not clear, but probably to Bishop 
John Freeman Young. The next owner 
was Frederick B. Wendt, who in August, 
1903, sold to Olga Josephine Jones, pre- 



21 



Billy Clarke 

Dr. S. R. 

Elliott 



Aiisco G. 
firtiiiiier 



Bishop John 
F. Yoitng 

/•■. B. 
]Vcudt 



22 



HOWARD AVENUE CS), 



Willis 
Blackstone 



John F. 
V oung 



sumably because the lady held a mortgage; 
she in April, 1904, to The Sisters of the 
Congregation of Notre Dame, St. Joseph's 
Seminary. In February, 1907, The Sisters, 
etc. sold to Ansco G. Bruinier. 

The New York directories from 1836 on 
show a Willis Blackstone, builder, who at 
no time resided outside of the city, he may 
have used this as a summer home, or may 
have purchased the property as a specula- 
tion. 

John Freeman Young was at one time 
assistant minister at Trinity Church, New 
York, he was later appointed Bishop of 
Florida, July 25, 1867, and spent his winters 
in that state and his summers on Grymes 
Hill; his style of living gives the impres- 
sion that he was not wholly dependent on 
the income from the bishopric over which 
he presided. 

Frederick B. Wendt enlarged the house 
and added the upper story. 

HOWARD AVENUE. 
It is doubtful whether one could find 
within one hundred miles of Manhattan 
another so beautiful, rural roadway as 
this. In itself, exclusive of the view, it is 
a remarkable combination of those fea- 
tures that are commonly called "pictur- 
esque." Most of the houses have been here 
long enough to fit themselves into the land- 
scape and the whole way has acquired that 
indefinable something which comes with the 
long association of man and nature where 
both work in harmony. The gray stone 
walls which give a suggestion of the ex- 
clusive, by no means deprive the passer-by 
of the beauties within, yet lend the same 
enchantment that is found in a bend in the 






SERPENTINE ROAD 



23 



road, mystery. We are all of us endowed 
with more or less curiosity and anything 
that piques that curiosity adds materially 
to the pleasure of the moment, whether 
it is a stone wall bordering beautiful grounds 
or a veil covering a beautiful face. 

Our way lies chiefly along the eastern 
side of the Hill, just below its brow, and 
consequently it is only now and then that 
we of the roadside catch a glimpse of the 
blue hills of New Jersey, our land of the 
setting sun. At its very beginning Howard 
avenue gives somewhat of this, but it is 
only those who dwell on the summit of the 
ridge that have the full sweep of the west- 
ern horizon. This, however, is of small 
moment, comparatively. There are many 
spots from which blue hills and fair, sunlit 
skies may be seen, but only one that looks 
down on so much of human interest and 
natural beauty as does this highway whose 
praises we are to sing. 

As we leave Louis street we have on the 
right (west) the Sugar Loaf field, so-called 
from the large glacial boulder which raises 
its head high above the surrounding field 
flowers. This has been in the Irving family 
for many years, they purchasing from John 
A. Cisco, Mr. Cisco found it a bit of the 
Quarantine woods, but desiring a pasture 
for his cattle cut off the trees that the grass 
might grow. Mr. W, T. Davis recalls that 
the finding of this boulder in the woods was 
one of the things for small boys to do when 
he was in that class. 

Daniel Wandel states that he can remem- 
ber as a boy, 1836, seeing Indians camped 
about this rock. These were no doubt 
Indians from New Jersey who, once in so 
often, came to the island for basket wood. 



Sugar 
Loaf Rock 



John A. 
Cisco 



24 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



Basket 
Wood 



John Martin 
place 

Dr. S. M. 
Elliott 



Henry 
Sedley 



In the last Indian deed of the island, 1670, 
Bayle's history states that: "They re- 
served two sorts of wood, however, and 
within the memory of the people now living, 
small parties of Indians at long intervals 
have visited the island, and exercised their 
reserved right of cutting such wood as they 
required for the purpose of making baskets." 
Basket wood was either ash or elder. The 
log was laid on the ground at the feet of a 
squaw, in whose hands was placed a club, 
the buck sitting on a near-by stump smok- 
ing the pipe of peace the while he bossed the 
job; it was the squaw's part to pound the 
log from end to end and on all sides. (These 
were the good old days v/hen women had 
an abundance of "rights".) 

At the proper time the buck would cease 
from the difficult art of directing, and with 
a sharp knife cut through the year's growth 
which the pounding had loosened, when the 
thin layer of wood was easily peeled off. 
This could be repeated until the log was 
reduced to a small pole. The thin sheets 
thus made were split to a required width 
and woven into baskets, which the women 
were freely allowed to sell. 

John Martin place. The original house 
here, which has been added to several times, 
was erected by Dr. S. M. Elliott as a spec- 
ulation. He secured a bargain lot of flag- 
stones in New York and standing these on 
edge bolted them to the timbers thus illus- 
trating in an odd way that he was not as 
other men. His daughter believes that the 
first tenant was Henry Sedley. 

This property consists of lots 32, 33 and 
34, Howard map; at the auction sale in 
August, 1836, these were purchased by John 
Y. Cebra. He paid $1,420, and after holding 




THE GROUP OF HOUSES ON THE NORTHERN END OF HOWARD AVENUE 
AND ON LEWIS STREET AS SEEN FROM THE DAVIS PLACE. FROM LEFT TO 
RIGHT THOSE SHOWING AGAINST THE SKY LINE ARE THE HOMES OF C. 
ALLAN BLYTHE. LOUIS A. STIRN, JOHN MARTIN. ANSCO G. BRUINIER AND 
HARRY R. HILLARD. PICTURE TAKEN IN FEBRUARY. 1914. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



for sixteen years sold in September, 1852, to 
Dr. Elliott for $2,000, the price paid being an 
indication that no building had been erected. 
In January, 1870, the Doctor sold to Anne 
Norton, wife of Henry Sedley, for $8,000, 
and on March 11, 1912, Barbara, daughter 
of Hanry Sedley, sold to Prestonia Mann 
Martin. 

The common impression is that Mrs. Sin- 
clair owned this property and that Henry 
Sedley resided with her but the real estate 
records do not bear this out. The lady held 
a mortgage on the property and may have 
advanced money for its purchase but title 
was taken in the name of Mr. Sedley. 

Mrs. Sinclair was the former wife of Ed- 
win Forrest. She sued for divorce in 1851 
and won her case through a "stupendous 
blunder" of the lawyer representing the de- 
fendant. The case was so celebrated that it 
has been published among "Extraordinary 
Cases". 

Mrs. Sinclair was an actress of note and 
I am told was also literary. She was gen- 
erally known as good to the poor, kind and 
hospitable. Miss Thompson tells me that 
during the draft riots of civil war time Mrs. 
Sinclair harbored in the kitchen of this 
house numbers of negroes, thus saving 
them from attack. As she was not known 
as an abolitionist the mob made no effort 
to search the house and she was able to 
offer the protection in comparative safety 
to herself. 

Efforts to secure facts concerning Henry 
Sedley have met with little success. Such 
of his family as I have been able to com- 
municate with practically refuse to be 
interviewed and about all that can be said 
is that he was a newspaper man of some 



25 



Mrs. Sinclair 



Negros 
Sheltered 
From Mob 



Henry 
Sedley 



26 



Charles 
Dickens 



Gorki 



Ernest F. 

Slocum 

Dr. S. M. 

Elliott 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



note and an expert at the game of chess. 
I am told that he was born a Smith, Jones, 
Brown or Robinson, but having aspirations 
for a handle less plebeian fixed on Sedley as 
altogether lovely. 

It is claimed that Charles Dickens was a 
guest here at one time and the room he is 
said to have occupied is still pointed out. 

One of the notables entertained at this 
house in recent times was Gorki, who 
came to this country in igo6 to aid 
the revolutionary movement in Russia. 
His mission was a failure so far as collecting 
money was concerned and he spent a large 
part of his time writing for the good of the 
cause and as his literary efforts commanded 
high prices he secured considerable money 
all of which, except enough for his bare 
living expenses was given to the revolution- 
ists. 

He was a guest of the Martins for five 
weeks, but never went about the roads much 
as he feared the spies which he claimed 
the Russian Government had constantly 
watching him. No one was seen in the 
locality who could be identified as a spy, 
but it was believed such were about as 
there was evidence at other points that he 
was being watched. 

Gorki spoke no English and communi- 
cated through his wife who spoke French 
fluently. She was of the nobility of Russia, 
but had joined the Revolutionary party and 
was an exile. 

The property of Ernest F. Slocum, 
"Tower House," on the west, consists of 
lots 10 and ii and fractions of 9 and la, 
Howard map. Dr. S. M. Elliott erected the 
building as a dwelling, this being his only 
home on the hill ; he sold to John J. Cisco in 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



27 



Tower 
House 



Dr. S. M. 

Elliott 



August, 1873; the Cisco estate to Marie, 
wife of Ludwig Raecke, she to A. D. Irving 
in May, 1886, and he to Mr. Slocum in Feb- 
ruary, 1906. 

It is the "Tower House" because Doctor 
ElHott used the tower as an observatory, 
it being capped with a dome from which 
a telescope sent inquiring glances heaven- 
ward, for it appears that the doctor was 
something of an astronomer. 

Some time later the building was used as 
a boys' school. In the early seventies a 
mixture compounded of equal parts of 
small boy and firecracker set the tower on 
fire one glorious Fourth of July, and its 
present style of roof is thus accounted for. 

We will introduce Doctor Samuel Mc- 
Kenzie Elliott as he introduced himself to 
Staten Island. 

About 1835-6 Dr. Elliott visited the island 
for the first time and in order to do so en- 
gaged the services of a Battery boatman 
who charged one dollar to row the five miles 
which separates Manhattan from Staten 
Island. 

The beauties of the island completely cap- 
tivated the Scotchman who had a strong 
leaning toward the beautiful in nature and 
he immediately purchased property at what 
is now Bard avenue and Richmond Terrace 
and erected several houses, being later 
attracted to the Grymes Hill neighborhood. 

It was the Doctor's artistic sense which 
led him to make his home on Staten Island 
rather than on Manhattan Island. He was 
fond of predicting that here would be the 
city rather than the older site and called it 
"Bay City", but so far Manhattan appears 
to have kept in the lead. 

While his love of the beautiful so far ob- 



Bay City 



28 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



The first 
Oculist 



scured the practical side that he sometimes 
overlooked such trifles as stairs in his build- 
ings and omitted curtains for the windows 
it led him to select charming sites for 
homes. The "Tower House", which an- 
swered well enough for his family, was his 
first building on the hill. It was so small that 
when he removed therefrom and tried to 
rent he found it necessary to make a num- 
ber of additions, but he had notions of 
his own as a general thing and if they did 
not fit in with the popular taste he never 
allowed such a small detail to worry him. 

The doctor married a "blue-eyed Irish 
girl", Letitia Irvine, his immigration to this 
country from his native Scotland being 
partly due, it is said, to the fact that she had 
preceded him here. He came in 1833 when 
twenty-two years of age and in 1835 settled 
in New York as an oculist. 

He was a pioneer in his line and like many 
another pioneer was not understood and 
suffered from much abuse at the hands of 
the medical profession. He was accused of 
being a quack and other unpleasant things 
and of using unknown drugs. But his frank- 
ness in throwing his office open for inspec- 
tion, his wonderful personal magnetism and 
enthusiasm combined with remarkable skill 
and scientific attainments, finally compelled 
recognition. 

He was the first medical practitioner in 
this country to make a specialty of the treat- 
ment of the eyes, but he never neglected to 
build up and strengthen the body as an aid, 
and many stories are told of the tricks he 
played on patients to this end. In Boston 
he pretended to have discovered great vir- 
tue in the waters of a well near a blacksmith 
shop on the far side of the Charles river, and 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



29 



which could only be reached by a footbridge. 
As the water must be drunk immediately on 
being drawn the patient must walk for it 
and thus the end was gained. Mrs. George 
William Curtis has heard Dr. S. R. Elliott 
say that when his father operated on the eye 
of a patient the latter lay on the floor and 
the doctor held his head between his, the 
doctor's, knees during the operation. 

Among his patients were John Jacob 
Astor, Commodore Vanderbilt, Peter Cooper, 
Prescott, the historian, Longfellow, Gott- 
schalk, Horace Greeley, James Russell 
Lowell, and many other notables. His 
family tell an incident concerning the first 
named. Astor, being much concerned over 
his physical condition, agreed to pay the 
doctor $50 per day to keep him alive, but 
w^as so stingy that he would not follow 
directions. At one time the doctor ordered 
that he be kept thoroughly warm and for 
this purpose insisted on a wood fire which 
was built in his presence. He left shortly 
after but having forgotten his gloves came 
back to find Astor extinguishing the blaze. 

When the civil war came he, with the as- 
sistance of his three sons, Samuel R., Alvin 
Vaughn and William St. George and with 
his daughter, Elizabeth, acting as "enrolling 
officer" — raised at his own expense — some 
$30,000 — the "Seventy-ninth Highlanders" 
made up principally of "red-headed Macs 
with a bad temper" as his advertisement 
for men put it. "With the father as Colonel 
and his three sons in the ranks the Seventy- 
ninth Highlanders marched out of New York 
to the skirl of the pipes, barelegged and in 
tartan." 

While both he and his sons were in the 
war from beginning to end none of them 



Serei'ty- 

ntiitlt 
Highlanders 



30 



HOWARD AVENUE CSt> 



Dr. S. R. 

Elliott 



were in the habit of talking of their ad- 
ventures and not a great deal has been pre- 
served concerning their experiences. 

The New York Tribune of May 7, 1875, 
speaks of him as "emphatically one of the 
men who impart the element of the pic- 
turesque to common affairs. A person of 
very strong, original, eccentric character. A 
man of positive genius in his profession." 

Dr. Elliott was buried in the Silver Mount 
Cemetery. 

The New York Sun of December i, 1909, 
contained a two column article on the edi- 
torial page by E. D. Doster entitled "A Man 
of Many Talents. The Life and Friendships 
of the Late Dr. S. R. Elliott." (Eldest son of 
Dr. S. M. Elliott.) 

The doctor's virtues and accomplishments 
were so many that space permits hardly 
more than the mere cataloguing of them. 
We learn that even as a young boy his tal- 
ents attracted attention from the distin- 
guished men who were in the habit of vis- 
iting his father. 

Gottschalk, the composer, noticed the 
dreamy melodies he composed and predicted 
for him a wonderful future as a musician and 
even gave him lessons. 

His quaint verses attracted Longfellow 
who offered to bring him up in his own fam- 
ily and train him for a literary career. 

At the University of Heidelberg his fame 
as a broadswordsman was such that nearly 
fifty years later a young German "schlager," 
then champion, called on him to salute a leg- 
endary hero, the greatest "English" schla- 
ger the University had ever known. 

In the Latin Quarter in Paris he studied 
music and medicine simultaneously; here 
there came to him high honors for his work 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



31 



in the hospitals and for his achievements at 
the conservatory of music. 

The fame of his musical gifts reached the 
ears of the Empress Eugenie, before whom 
he improvised, winning the applause of the 
imperial court. 

When Garibaldi was wresting a united 
Italy from the Austrian, Dr. Elliott donned 
the red shirt of the Garibaldians and 
marched with a troop of Lombardy soldiery. 

The British and American colonies of 
celebrities in literature, music and art in 
Rome and Florence were captivated by his 
address, his physical graces and his wonder- 
ful versatility, and flung their portals wide 
open to him. In Florence he frequented Mrs. 
Browning's evenings at the Casa Guidi. 

He entered the Seventy-ninth Highlanders 
as a private, but soon became First Lieuten- 
ant, then Captain of Company K of this 
regiment. Secretary of War, Simon Cam- 
eron, an intimate friend of his father, 
offered him an important commission which 
he declined. 

During '62 he served as assistant surgeon 
in the Sixty-third New York, the "Irish 
Brigade." 

In '63 was surgeon in the Second Battal- 
ion, Hawkins Zouaves, and in the same year 
was Major in the Blair Rifles, Consolidated. 

In '64 surgeon in the Fifth Heavy Artillery 
which post he held until he was mustered 
out at the close of the war. 

He took honorable part in thirty engage- 
ments from Bull Run to Appomattox. 

In '63 while home on a furlough he married 
Miss Amy Dinsmore, a cousin and a fellow 
pupil of Patti. His wife and his sister, Miss 
Elizabeth Elliott, returned with him to 
Washington and to Harpers Ferry where he 



32 HOWARD AVENUE CS, 



had charge of field hospitals. At the battle 
of Bull Run he carried from the field, at con- 
siderable personal risk, the body of his reg- 
imental commander. Colonel Cameron, son 
of the secretary of war. 

He was seriously wounded in the head at 
the battle of Antietam when jumping his 
horse over a fence in a charge on the enemy. 

Under a heavy fire he swam his horse 
across the Shenandoah river, towing after 
him, with the aid of a swimming orderly, a 
raft loaded with wounded men. 

After the war he began the practice of 
medicine with his father. 

He and his chum, who was later Justice 
Barrett, composed several sermons which 
were preached by a leading divine as his 
own and which became famous for their 
literary qualities and profound theological 
erudition. 

During this period his friends were such 
men as Artemus Ward, Fitz James O'Brien, 
Henry Clapp, Edmund Clarence Stedman, 
"Private" Miles O'Reilly, George Arnold, 
General Devereau, Bob Wheat, Col. Thomas, 
Albert Pike, Professor Youmans, Walt 
Whitman, Charles A. Dana, William Henry 
Hurlbert, Andrew C. Wheeler, Parke God- 
win, W. J. Stillman, George Fawcett Rowe, 
Bret Harte, Elihu Vedder, Charles Coleman, 
Hamilton Wilde, Edwin Booth, William 
Stuart, Madame Modjeska, Sara Jewett, 
Clara Louise Kellogg, and many others as 
well as the older generation who knew his 
father. His office in the University build- 
ing was the rallying place of the wits and 
thinkers of the city. 

In spite of the fact that he stood at the 
head of his profession and was kept exces- 
sively busy with his work, he yet found time 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



33 



to meet with his friends and to develop his 
literary and musical talents. 

It is told that on the eve of her first ap- 
pearance in America, Madame Modjeska 
was brought to Dr. Elliott one morning. Her 
manager was in despair for she had lost her 
voice. She remained under the doctor's 
care during the day and was able to appear 
in the evening in perfect condition. 

Dr. Elliott valued his physical strength 
and prowess above any of his other gifts, In- 
dian clubs which he used habitually until a 
few years before his death were almost too 
heavy for the ordinary man to lift ; he could 
crack a coin with his fingers or bend a poker 
with his biceps. On one occasion he carried 
five men up a long and steep flight of stairs. 
Billy Clarke, a fistic champion of the '70's, 
was the companion of his boxing bouts. 

His memory w^s as phenomenal as h:s 
physical strength, once he read a poem th.^t 
appealed to him he never forgot it ; thus v/ith 
music; when he heard an opera he would 
return home and repeat it in its entirety. 
Charles A. Dana once tested his memory for 
quotations but could not trip him. 

He wrote prose for the Atlantic Monthly 
and Harper's Weekly and poems for the 
Churchman and the Congregationalist. 

Such is an extremely brief summary of 
an unusual career. 

The wayfarer now begins to catch his 
first real intimation of the scenic wonders 
that are to come. From this point on the man 
on foot begins to share with the house- 
holder the pictures that no mere words can 
trace, some bounded only by the heavens, 
some framed by swaying branches, for it 
is indeed a sultry summer day when no 
breeze stirs here. 



34 



HOWARD AVENUE CSt, 



Louis A. 

Stirn 

C. Allan 

Blythe 



Convent 
Property 



It is, perhaps, a trifle difficult to say which 
outlook exceeds all others. Happily, each 
householder believes in his own, this no 
doubt because each lives with his partic- 
ular view and only sees that of his neigh- 
bors incidentally. It holds for him the 
same intimate quality as do his family re- 
lationships. He sees it morning, noon and 
night, in storm and under sunswept skies, 
the twinkling night-lights form for him geo- 
metric designs or curves of beauty that can 
be had from no other angle. 

The next house on the left is the concrete 
home of Louis A. Stirn built in 1908, and just 
beyond that the home of C. Allan Blythe, 
Jr., also of recent construction. 

This hill slope is extremely irregular and, 
consequently, the houses are not necessar- 
ily set with the road, but rather accommo- 
date themselves to the lay of the land, a 
series of ravines and shoulders. These two 
houses, situated within three hundred feet 
of each other, are possibly the best on the 
hill to use as illustrations of the marvelous 
variety of a scene which, in reality the same, 
is yet so individual to each. This is unques- 
tionably due to the fact that no two fore- 
grounds are similar and to the difference in 
the angle at which each house is set. Of 
these the one stands out on a slight jut of 
land and gazes off over the roofs below as 
from the edge of a declivity, while the eye 
of his neighbor follows down a grassy ra- 
vine, guarded by tall forest trees, to the dis- 
tant vessels, or with a slight turn of the 
head he finds a portion of his picture framed 
by the branches of his woodland retainers. 

On the right lies the Convent property. 
This land was purchased at the Howard 
sale, 1836, by Benjamin Wood who in July, 



I 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



35 



1842, sold to John Anthon, and he in 1854 to 
Albert Brisbane, he in 1857 to Ezekiel J. 
Donnell, who lost the place through fore- 
closure proceedings and the sheriff sold it 
at auction in May, 1868, to Alexander Mait- 
land for $105. January, 1869, Maitland sold 
to Alexander D. Shaw for $17,000. This reads 
as though Maitland's fairy god-mother had 
him in charge at the time, but the gentle- 
man probably purchased a large sized mort- 
gage with the property. In 1871 Shaw sold 
to John A. Cisco for $32,500, and he in Feb- 
ruary, 1885, to Ellen E. Du Pont Irving, 
wife of A. D. Irving for $20,000. The last 
transfer was to The Sisters, etc., who now 
conduct here a school and convent known 
as the "Congregation de Notre Dame." 

It is believed that the house was erected 
by Albert Brisbane — 1854-1857. Mr. Wil- 
liam B. Duncan has told me that such was 
the fact and that Brisbane was interested in 
the socialistic teachings of Charles Fourier, 
who founded the communistic system known 
as Fourierism. According to his plan so- 
ciety was to be organized in associations 
united by the principle of attraction and ar- 
ranged in groups according to occupations 
or capacities. All members of a group were 
to live in a common dwelling and each was 
guaranteed the means of self-support and 
opportunities for a harmonious develop- 
ment of all his faculties and tastes. The 
plan was brought to America about 1840. 
Mr. Brisbane started such a colony here, 
but like other schemes to make life pleasant 
for the lazy man at the expense of the 
worker it did not last. As Mr. Brisbane 
only owned the property for three years it 
is not clear how he could have done so much 
in such a short space of time, unless he con- 



E. J. Donnell 



Alex. D. 
Shaw 



A. D. In iiig 



Albert 
Brisbane 



36 



Cisco 
Property 



Major 

George 

Howard 



John 
Anihon 



Ernest 
Caset 



George Law 



John J. Cisco 



Otto P. Heyn 



HOWARD AVENUE CS, 



tinued to occupy the place after selling it. 

More than one hundred years ago the 
northern part of the Cisco property was in- 
cluded in the church Glebe. Daniel D. 
Tompkins purchased about 1814, but when 
his troubles became acute it was sold under 
foreclosure proceedings and was conveyed 
to Caleb T. Ward. A suit in chancery was 
brought by the Tompkins heirs to set aside 
the deed to Ward, but was discontinued 
long years after. The transfers of the prop- 
erty are as follows: — 

October 21, 1830, Caleb T. Ward sold to 
Major George Howard, consideration $850, 
being at the rate of $100 per acre. 

December 3, 1838, George Howard sold to 
John Anthon, consideration $22,000. This 
included the dwelling erected by Howard, 
but as that is spoken of as a small frame 
building, the transaction would appear to 
have been a profitable one for him, 

June 15, 1855, John Anthon sold to Ernest 
Cazet, consideration, $27,500. 

October 25, i860, Ernest Cazet sold to 
George Law, consideration, $40,000. In 
view of the fact that Cazet erected the house 
now standing and the stone wall which in 
part still surrounds the place, the price re- 
ceived must have represented a considerable 
loss. 

June 4, 1869, George Law sold to John J. 
Cisco, consideration, $75,000. Law erected 
the brick stable at a cost of $20,000, and put 
in an expensive system of sewers and drains, 
two ponds and other improvements. He 
claimed to have expended for and on the 
place $100,000. 

The northern third of this property has 
recently been built upon by Otto P. Heyn, 
the house having been turned over by the 




HOWARD AVENUE NORTH FROM THE CISCO GATE. ON THE RIGHT THE 
HOME OP C. AI-LAN BLYTHE. IX THE DISTANCE THE "TOWER HOUSE," 
ERECTED BY DR. S. M. ELLIOTT. NuW OWNED AND OCCUPIED BY ERNEST 
F. SLOCUM. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



37 



Major 
George 
Hoivard 



contractor in July, 1913. This residence, 
being situated on the ridge, looks both to 
the west and east, furnishing its occupants 
with the glory of the setting sun on the one 
hand, while on the other it gazes on the orb 
of day as that light-giver shakes the morn- 
ing mists from its face and looks over into 
the Narrows to discover what plunder Quar- 
antine has gathered during the hours of 
darkness. 

Major George Howard was born in East 
Windsor, Connecticut, January 23, 1787. He 
entered the United States Army from his 
native state and was honorably discharged 
June 15, 181 5. For eleven years he was 
boarding officer of the port of New York, 
and in 1830 was appointed keeper of public 
stores at Staten Island. 

He married Sarah Trumbull, presumably 
of Connecticut, as her ancestors certainly 
were, owned a pew in the Dutch Reform'.d 
church at Tompkinsville and two lots in the 
cemetery belonging to that church. This 
cemetery was sold or exchanged and the 
bodies removed to the Silver Mount Cem- 
etery where they are to be found in the 
"Church Lot" though there appears to be 
no record that the Major is buried here. He 
died July 13, 1851 and was buried from the 
residence of his son-in-law. Dr. James Har- 
court. Factory Village, Staten Island. 

As Mr. Hiram Smith, who has been kind 
enough to dig out the above Howard facts 
for me, has included the Major's children, it 
will do no harm to preserve the information 
here. "Possible children, Jedia — born March 
II, 181 1. Mary Anne — born November 5, 
1814. Sarah Harper — born May 30, 1819. 
Daniel R. Hitchcock married, April 22, 1833, 
Mary Anne Howard. She died September 2, 



38 



HOWARD AVENUE CSt 



CastletoH 
Heights 



Lover's 
Lane 



1875. When he married, second, December 
27, 1886, Julia Trumbull Howard, (possibly 
the 'Jedia' above) sister of his first wife and 
widow of Dr. James Harcourt. She died in 
1890. Daniel R. Hitchcock died March 31, 
1891." 

After disposing of his dwelling here the 
Major purchased land on St. Paul's avenue 
opposite the head of Hannah street and 
erected a brick dwelling, still standing, in 
which he resided until 1844. 

In the good old days when Grymes Hill 
was known as Castleton Heights, there 
lived on its crest a fierce old war-horse 
whose two daughters shared honors as the 
beauties of the countryside, but such a 
fire-eater was the head of the house that 
the youth of the neighborhood stood afar 
off lamenting the cruelty of fate. How- 
ever, this method could not last, being 
against all nature, and the moths kept nar- 
rowing the circle until one, more bold than 
his fellows, finally plunged within the flame 
and lost his wings, as his desire to use them, 
but gained that which appeared far more 
precious. 

At that early period Howard avenue was 
a lover's lane fit for a fairy princess. In 
these primeval woods were many interest- 
ing nooks for young men and maidens, while 
the summer breezes that refreshed the hill- 
side had a way of fanning the spark of love 
until it became a mighty flame. The lovers 
thoroughly tested each nook and comer 
and found none wanting until one day, com- 
ing to the far southern end of the hill, which 
was in those times known as Brimstone 
Hill, they fell beneath the baleful influence 
of a certain hollow from whose depths 
came a cold biting wind which ever shiv- 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



39 



ered through the leaves. So wrapped were 
our young friends in their own imaginings, 
however, that they failed to note the change 
in temperature and set themselves on the 
very edge of this clove to discuss those 
abstruse questions which naturally arise on 
such occasions. They so placed themselves, 
as it happened, that only the young man 
caught the cooling breeze in the region of 
his fluttering heart, and as they sat a — to 
him — unaccountable change came over the 
spirit of his dreams. The proceedings 
which heretofore had been more than in- 
teresting began to pall. He even discovered 
that the maiden could walk without as- 
sistance. She eyed him curiously as they 
returned toward her father's dwelling and 
speculated inwardly on the frigidity which 
by this time had worked through his breast 
and particularly affected his good right arm 
which was refusing its too evident duty. 
As love's fitful fever subsided, the youth's 
attentions became more and more intermit- 
tent until he fell away, so to speak, entirely, 
and there was a long period when the 
sighing of the winds around the house found 
an echo in the breast of the forlorn maiden. 
It would appear that about this time the 
stern parent began to fret over the situation, 
for a friend who happened to call as the 
bleak winds of autumn were spreading 
desolation through the trees found the old 
gentleman industriously polishing a pair of 
antique dueling pistols that long since 
adorned the sash of an ancestor whose rec- 
ord had been carefully notched upon their 
butts. The long, bright barrels attracted 
the visitor's attention and he asked con- 
cerning their history. The Major, however, 
was not inclined to talk overmuch, but 



Discord 



40 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



Love 
Triumphant 



John 
Anthon 



rather grumbled to himself, sputtering in 
an excited fashion that in nowise became 
his gray hairs. The caller finally gathered 
from the fragments of conversation which 
fell to him that there was trouble in store 
for the reluctant lover and hastening his 
departure sought out the young man and 
explained what the future held for him. 
And now a most wonderful thing happened. 
The love which had for so many weeks lain 
dormant suddenly surged back to its proper 
channels. No longer did the wind sigh 
about the house, but called joyfully to the 
reunited lovers whose course ran on so 
smooth a track thereafter that even the re- 
furbished pistols that had been hung in a 
conspicuous place above the mantel by a 
thoughtful parent ceased to hold the at- 
tention of the gallant youth. 

Ever after all true lovers avoided the 
darksome hollow that had so nearly en- 
gulfed the joy and romance of young love 
in its treacherous embrace, and only the 
snake and the toad slipped silently through 
its slimy ooze. 

As before stated Howard sold to John An- 
thon in 1838, he caught the real estate fever 
and on July 19, 1842, purchased lots 14 to 
19 inclusive, Howard map, these adjoined 
his place on the north and he had the entire 
property surveyed and platted. Lot 6 
which contained the dwelling was about 
400 feet wide ; between that and Eddy street 
lay lot 7 which was something over 200 
feet wide while north of lot 6 lay five lots 
each 100 feet in width. Lots i and 2, the 
most northerly, are now occupied by the 
Convent. He expended for all the property 
$27,500 and sold for $32,500, having oc- 
cupied the dwelling over sixteen years as 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



41 



well; every one seems to have made money 
in real estate in those flush times. 

John Anthon was a notable member of a 
notable family. The first of the name to 
land on this soil passed Staten Island in 
1757 on his way to New York a prisoner 
of war, and no doubt looked up to these 
heights with any but friendly eyes. This 
was George Christian Anthon, a surgeon 
in the employ of the Dutch West India 
Company, though himself a German. A 
ship on which he sailed was captured by a 
British privateer and carried into New 
York; being a skilled man of medicine he 
soon found employment as assistant sur- 
geon in the General Military Hospital at 
Albany. After a brief period here he was 
appointed assistant surgeon in the First 
Battalion, 60th Regiment, Royal Ameri- 
cans, and with his company was sent to 
Detroit in 1760. Here he married and here 
his son John was born in 1784, Shortly 
after the Revolutionary war he removed to 
New York. 

John Anthon graduated from Columbia in 
1 80 1, studied law and soon became the 
foremost lawyer of his time in this city. 
He was in command of a company of mili- 
tia during the war of 1812 and, served in 
the defense of New York City. He was 
also employed during this period as judge- 
advocate and accumulated many honors in 
the course of his long life. 

Charles Edward Anthon, son of John, was 
for many years professor of Belles-Lettres 
and History in the "Free Academy," later 
known as the College of the City of New 
York. During the years 1850 and 1851 he 
gathered material for a history of Staten 
Island which he never published, but which 



G. C. 
Anthon 



John 
Anthon 



C. E. 
Anthon 



42 



HOWARD AVENUE (®. 



Wm. H. 

Anthon 



Ernest 
Cazet 



has been liberally used by succeeding his- 
torians as it supplies much that would have 
been lost had it not been recorded at the 
time. Sheriff Denyse remembers Charles 
E. Anthon well ; says he was a great walker 
and a fine man. At one time, probably after 
the place on Grymes Hill had been sold, he 
boarded at the hotel of Frank Jones, Bay 
and Grififin streets, Stapleton. 

William Henry Anthon, son of John, fol- 
lowed in the footsteps of his father and 
was admitted to the bar in 1848. He soon 
became distinguished in the profession and 
in 1858 was one of those who defended the 
rioters who burned the quarantine build- 
ings on Staten Island. 

Ernest Cazet came to this country from 
the wine district of southern France, a 
youth of eighteen with "no money, but un- 
limited credit." By the time he arrived at 
the age of thirty he was a rich man, not all 
of it having been made in the wine busi- 
ness, however, as his speculations in New 
York real estate appear to have been won- 
derfully profitable; as an instance, two lots 
on lower Broadway are cited, these he 
purchased for about $25,000 and sold not 
long after to the Produce Exchange for 
about $150,000. He also owned several 
blocks on Sixth avenue in the dry goods dis- 
trict which were the cause of much gain, 
but reverses finally came and he lost much 
that had made life so fair a prospect. 

Mr. Cazet purchased the Anthon prop- 
erty with the idea of making his home 
here for the remainder of his life. The 
Howard dwelling was sold to one Geshidt, 
an architect, and removed to Houseman 
street, near the Little Clove road; it was 
later used by Italians and finally burned. Mr. 






SERPENTINE ROAD 



Cazet erected the present building and sur- 
rounded his land with the stone wall which 
to a considerable extent continues to adorn 
the locality, but when his losses came he 
was stricken with a serious disorder and 
returned to France for treatment. There he 
was advised that a cure would be a matter 
of years and came back to New York, closed 
up his interests and returned to his native 
France only to die within a few years. 

Mr. Cazet is spoken of as a gentleman and 
a friend of the needy, as well as a shrewd 
business man, and appears to have left only 
pleasant memories behind him. He sold 
to George Law, one of the conditions in- 
sisted on by the latter being that the con- 
tents of the house should go with the place; 
this was presumably because of the rich- 
ness of the furnishings, everything having 
been imported from France, the carpets were 
of such quality that after fifty-five years of 
use they are still in good condition. 

We find a legend to the effect that the 
stone wall which surrounds the Cisco place 
was constructed with slave labor, but as 
Emancipation day came to Staten Island, 
July 4, 1825, and Mr. Cazet not until Oc- 
tober 25, 1855, the legend can hardly be 
taken seriously. It is a fact, however, that 
the wall was erected by Frederick Law 
Olmstead who did considerable of his early 
landscaping on Staten Island. The con- 
struction is peculiar in that the wall is built 
on the surface of the ground without foun- 
dation, the interior being filled with loose 
stone and although it has been standing 
full fifty-five years it is to-day as good as 
when built. 

These walls are one of the most pic- 
turesque features of the road and it will be 



43 



George Law 



Frederick 

Law 

Oivislead 



44 



HOWARD AVENUE CSb 



George 
Law 



John Jay 
Cisco 



a sad day for the hilltop when the time 
of their fall arrives. The effect of ex- 
clusiveness has been heightened to some ex- 
tent by bits of broken glass set in the top of 
the wall as more than one marauder has 
been pained to discover. 

I have been told that George Law pur- 
chased this property as a home for his 
daughter, but that the lady found the hill 
too dull, preferring brick and mortar to the 
enchantment of nature. It is said that there 
was a husband who honored the army with 
his time and attention, and who was chiefly 
celebrated for the length of his hair, but 
not much appears to have been handed down 
concerning this branch of the family. 

George Law himself was a self-made man 
having built his success on a foundation of 
industry and study. A farmer's son, he 
learned the mason's trade, secured employ- 
ment on the Delaware and Hudson canal, 
employed his leisure in study and made him- 
self a good engineer and draughtsman. 
Became a large railroad and canal con- 
tractor. In 1837 went to New York, ob- 
tained contracts on the Croton water works, 
built High Bridge over the Harlem. In 
1842 became manager of the Dry Dock 
Bank. Purchased and extended the Harlem 
and Mohawk railroads. Assumed the con- 
tract to carry the mails to California, 1849 
built the first passenger steamer for Pan- 
ama. Purchased the steam ferry to Staten 
Island and Brooklyn. Was known as "Live 
Oak George". 

John Jay Cisco. The name Cisco is an 
abbreviation of Francisco, the prefix hav- 
ing been dropped several generations since. 
After having served an apprenticeship of 
nine years, Mr. Cisco started in the whole- 




THE CISCO-LAW-CAZET HOUSE, ERECTED ABOUT 
1855 BY ERNEST CAZET. THE WALL. SURROUNDING 
THE PLACE WAS BUILT AT THE SAME TIME UNDER 
THE SUPERINTENDENCE OP FREDERICK LAW OLM- 
STEAD, THE NOTED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



sale dry goods business in New York, and 
retired at the age of thirty-six with a for- 
tune. Some eleven years later, or in 1853, 
he was appointed by President Pierce, much 
against his inclination. Assistant Treasurer 
of the United States, and placed in charge 
of the Sub-Treasury in New York. When 
President Buchanan came into office he at- 
tempted to resign, but was persuaded to re- 
main and when Mr. Lincoln was inaugu- 
rated he again made an effort to retire, but 
his administration had been such that both 
Mr. Lincoln and Secretary Chase insisted 
that it was his duty to remain and he ac- 
quiesced. His relations with bankers and 
merchants were such that he was of great 
service during the Civil War in placing 
early loans, and at one time actually paid 
the interest on certain bonds himself rather 
than allow the hard-pressed government to 
default. As a government officeholder Mr. 
Cisco stands almost alone. Mr. Cisco was 
finally allowed to retire in 1864, but was 
immediately appointed, at the insistance of 
Mr. Lincoln, a government director and 
Treasurer of the Union Pacific Railroad. In 
1865 the banking house of John J. Cisco 
& Son was established. Mr. Cisco died on 
March 23, 1884. The above account is 
taken chiefly from the New York Herald 
of March 24, 1884, with some additions by 
Hiram Smith and Mrs. Angus McKenzie, 
grandchildren. 

About a year after the death of John J. 
Cisco his son, John A. Cisco, removed from 
his own home, now the Convent, to this 
place, and it still remains in the family. 

Late in 1913 George Cisco, grandson of 
John J. Cisco, commenced the erection of a 
home at the comer of Howard avenue and 



45 



John A. 
Cisco 



George 
Cisco 



46 



James 

Morgan 

Davis 



Thomas 
Eaken 



Harvey 
North 



Supply 

Water 

on Grymes 

Hill 



HOWARD AVENUE (®. 



Eddy street. The white stuccoed sides of 
this, gleaming over the old stone wall and 
half shaded by tall hornbeams, has an air of 
seclusion and aloofness that a building so 
close to the road could not hope to possess 
except it were walled about, as is the case 
here. 

On the east side of the road lies the James 
Morgan Davis estate, "East Over". October 
1 6, 1 84 1, Caleb T. Ward sold this property 
to Harvey North, "late of New Orleans," 
consideration $5,940. October 12, 1853, 
North sold to Thomas Eaken "of Nash- 
ville," consideration $12,000, and Eakin 
erected the present dwelling, but died shortly 
after and his family did not long occupy the 
place. Mr. E. D. Clark who came to this 
place when a boy in November, 1843, tells 
me that his father, Eusebius Clark, was em- 
ployed by Mr. North to lay out the grounds, 
a house being erected for his occupancy in 
which he lived thirteen years. 

There were two brothers North, in the im- 
porting business in New York one of whom, 
Harvey, married a French woman. He ex- 
pected to build a handsome house and make 
this his home, but his wife refused to live in 
this country and he went to France with 
her. Mr. Clark caused the well, 102 feet 
deep, to be dug ; up to this time Logan Spring 
had never run out of water but since has 
gone dry on occasion and it is supposed this 
well tapped the water supply of the spring. 

The water supply on this high land is 
erratic, there have been in the past at least 
three natural ponds here which must have 
been fed by springs, two on the Cisco 
place and one on the Kendall place and yet 
the well on the Cisco place went down 117 
feet before water was reached and that 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



47 



James 
Remvick 



on the Kendall place is 130 feet deep. 

Many years ago Mr. Davis purchased the 
property from Mrs. Eaken and it is still the 
Davis home. The architect of the dwelling 
was James Renwick, one of New York's 
most noted architects. Grace Church, 
Broadway and Tenth Street, and the Catho- 
lic Cathedral, Fifth avenue, are among the 
creations of Mr. Renwick's genius. 

James Morgan Davis had a business ca- 
reer that was of unusual interest. He was 
a member of the New York Stock Exchange 
by the time he was old enough to vote, and 
retired from business at the age of twenty- 
five. 

Mr. Davis began his business career in 
the stock brokerage office of Travers & 
Jerome, and when the latter retired was ad- 
mitted to the firm, which was then known 
as Travers & Co. By the time he was twen- 
ty-five his health became impaired and he 
concluded to give up work and go abroad. 
His partner, William R. Travers, wished 
him to retain his interest in the firm and 
step back into the harness when his health 
would permit, but Mr. Davis preferred to 
leave no loose ends that might carry worry 
into his retirement, and refused to entertain 
the proposition. 

After remaining inactive for seven to 
eight years he entered the Wall street arena 
again as a member of the firm of Work, Da- 
vis & Barton. 

Among others, the firm acted as broker 
for Commodore Vanderbilt, and it was dur- 
ing this period that the Commodore cor- 
nered Erie. He had Jay Gould "busted," 
and had it not been for the latter's methods 
of high finance, would have completely 
cleaned him out, but the ingenious Mr. 



48 



HOWARD AVENUE CBt. 



Gould moved over into Jersey, where the 
New York courts could not reach him, and 
being in complete control of the Erie, issued 
a convertible bond which he immediately 
converted into stock. This he put on the 
market in large quantities, and as the proc- 
ess could be repeated ad libitum, owing to 
the lax railroad laws of the day, he rather 
had the Commodore "on the hip." 

The case was immediately thrown into 
the courts and the Commodore brought suit 
against Gould. Work, Davis & Barton also 
brought suit in the namer. of certain custom- 
ers, and it was here that Mr. Davis discov- 
ered the real character of Frank Work, 
which proved to be anything but lovely. 
Work suggested that in order to prevent 
the dragging of all members of the firm into 
the court and interfering with its business, 
suit be brought in his name; this was done 
and Work was left to engineer the details. 

One fine morning Mr. Davis saw in his 
newspaper that the Commodore had com- 
promised his suit out of court, and knowing 
that Work would, of course, do likewise, 
called on him for an accounting, but the lat- 
ter insisted that his suit had been dropped 
and that he had received nothing beyond at- 
torney's fees. This was so palpably untrue 
that Davis threatened suit, but to have 
brought suit would have dragged the Com- 
modore in, and compelled him to uncover 
his hand, and this the firm could not afford 
to do. The firm was, however, immediately 
dissolved, as neither of the other members 
cared to be longer associated with Work. 

In 1874 the firm of Davis & Freeman was 
formed with Commodore Vanderbilt as a 
special partner and, some six years later, or 
when Mr. Davis was forty-t^vo years of 




HOWARD AVEXUE. LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE DAVIS GATE. THE AVENUE 
WAS OPENED FROM EDDY STREET NORTH BY OR BEFORE 1S36 BY MAJOR 
GEORGE HOWARD, WHO ERECTED THE FIRST DWELLING ON GRYMES HILL IN 
1830 ON THE SITE OF THE PRESENT CISCO HOUSE. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



49 



age, he retired from business permanently. 

The Davis family camie to Staten Island 
in 1832 from Rhode Island, and James Mor- 
gan Davis was born here in 1837, and al- 
ways regarded himself as a full-fledged 
Staten Islander. 

In the southwest corner of Howard ave- 
nue and Eddy street stands the dwelling of 
J. D. Lawrence. This is one of two houses 
erected by William Butler Duncan about 
1870. Apparently these were to be the ni> 
cleus of a small colony, but the buildings did 
not rent as expected and the venture went 
no further. About 1875 Mr. Lawrence pur- 
chased, after having rented for a short time, 
and he has occupied the property ever since. 
The second house stood at the back of 
the Critten place and was later moved to 
the opposite side of Duncan avenue, where 
it still stands. 

The before-settlement history of the 
Lawrence and Critten properties will be 
found under the description of the Hunt 
grounds. 

Next south stands the home of Mrs. De 
Frees Critten, "Olive Crest." In January, 
1874, Arthur Oilman, architect, purchased 
the land from Wm. B. Duncan, paying $15,- 
000 ; it was he who erected the dwelling now 
standing, but it appears to have been too 
much of a load for his bank account as we 
find the property again in the possession of 
Mr. Duncan. In June, 1879, it was sold by 
order of the court as part of the bankrupt 
Duncan estate, being purchased by the estate 
of Orondates Mauran, apparently to protect 
a mortgage. April 30, 1881, the Mauran 
estate sold to Davis Johnson. July 8, 1886, 
Johnson sold to Charles McNamee. No- 
vember 23, 1886, McNamee to Anna E. Lord 



/. D. 

Lau'rcnce 



Olive Crest 

Arthur 
Gihnan 



Dai is 
Johnso)! 

Chns. 
McXaniee 



y 



50 



Castleton 
Heights 



Arthur 
Giltnan 



Daiiis 
Johnson 



Anna 
E. Lord 



'HGWKRD AVENUE CBb 



and October 3, 1895, Lord to De Frees Crit- 
ten. The plot is known as lots 5 and 8 on a 
"map of valuable property in the village of 
Edgewater, Staten Island, sold June 19, 1879, 
under judgment of the New York Supreme 
Court by Theodore C. Vermilye, Jr., xeferee 
in suit of James E. Mauran as executor, etc., 
against William B. Duncan and others. 
George M. Root, city surveyor." 

In the deed from Johnson to McNamee, 
1886, the hill is called "Castleton Heights" 
thus it would appear that even so late as 
twenty-five years ago the present name was 
not universally in use. 

Arthur Oilman was an architect of con- 
siderable note, not only as a designer but 
also as lecturer and at least to some extent 
as a writer. Before coming to New York 
and while a resident of Boston he advocated 
the filling in and improvement of the Back 
Bay, and it is claimed that the handsome 
features of Commonwealth avenue are due 
almost entirely to his efforts. In 1865 he 
removed to New York. The Equitable Life 
building which burned during the winter of 
1911-12 was his work and he had much to do 
with the designing of the Capitol at Albany. 
St. John's church and parsonage, Clifton, are 
also of his creating. Mr. Oilman is recalled 
by his old neighbors as an unusually pleas- 
ant companion and exceedingly social, a 
great after-dinner story-teller and raconteur. 

Davis Johnson was a broker and while 
recalled pleasantly by his one time neigh- 
bors I have not come on any store of infor- 
mation concerning him. 

While the real estate records show that 
Charles McNamee was the next to purchase 
the property and that he in turn sold to 
Anna E. Lord, it is believed that he was 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



merely acting for Mrs. Lord who was his 
mother-in-law. He or she called the place 
"The Beacon", an appropriate name surely 
and the more so as the earliest known name 
of the ridge was "Signal Hill." 

The man who is remembered for his 
kindly and neighborly qualities, who re- 
verses Shakespeare's oft-quoted lines, "the 
evil men do lives after them, the good is 
oft interred with their bones," has accom- 
plished more than will most of us. Such was 
De Frees Critten, who is recalled lovingly 
by his neighbors as "the best man that ever 
lived," and who also commanded the ad- 
miration and respect of the men with whom 
he associated. 

Mr. Critten was in a way a forty-niner, 
that is, he was born in Piqua, Ohio, in that 
year of the gold fever, which may or may 
not have had something of an influence on 
his acquisitive powers later on in life, but it 
is more probable that the early struggle to 
support a widowed mother developed a 
natural ability to improve his opportunities. 
In 1886 he came to New York and formed 
the firm of Critten, Cliff & Co., and was on 
the high road to a large success when death 
overtook him. His hobby was his home, but 
he was the same clean man in business that 
his neighbors knew. "He was known 
throughout the business channels of the 
country by his manly dealings and upright 
character, and was respected for his integ- 
rity and honesty of purpose." 

Mr. Critten died in 1907, having been a 
resident of Staten Island for twenty years. 

Still south stands the home of Mrs. 
Charles W. Hunt. An abstract of title 
gives us the early history of this place and 
to a great extent that of the Lawrence and 



51 



Dc Frees 
Critteti 



Mrs. Clias. 
W. Hunt 



52 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



Orondates 
Mauran 



Eddy St. 
Howard Av. 



Critten homes as well. As far back as 
1789, this, with the exception of a strip at 
the back, was part of the Cornelius Corson 
farm. This portion descended to his son 
Daniel C. Corson. Was sold by him in 1806 
to James Dobson, who immediately dis- 
posed of it to David Mersereau and he in 
18 14 to Daniel D. Tompkins. The strip at 
the back of the place was willed in 1798 by 
Wilhelmus Vreeland to his son Eder Vree- 
land, it having been aforetime probably a 
portion of the Hendrick Hsndrickson grant 
from the Dongan trustees.* In 1814 Eder 
Vreeland sold to Daniel D. Tompkins. Thus 
the latter came into possession of the tract 
which is now bounded by the Turnpike, 
Eddy street, Howard avenue and the Ken- 
dall place. 

Daniel D. Tompkins fell on evil days and 
in 181 7 mortgaged the property to Thomas 
Hulme, who foreclosed in 1822. He sold to 
Caleb T. Ward in 1826 and he to Oron- 
dates Mauran June 14, 1831, and Mr. Mau- 
ran probably erected the present building 
immediately as Mr. Betton, a great-grand- 
son, has the record book of the wine cellar 
which begins with the year 1833. This 
would make it the oldest house now stand- 
ing on the hill. The deed to Mauran gives 
the impression that neither Eddy street nor 
Howard avenue at this point were then 
established as Ward agrees therein to allow 
an avenue on the north side of the property 
fifty-six feet in width and on the east side 
of the property forty feet in width. Eddy 
street was named by Mr. Mauran in honor of 

* NOTK.— Wilhelmns Vreeland willed hi8 farm to liJs two sona, 
Ertcir and William. It may be intereHtiiiR to note in tliis connec- 
tion that Mr. Delavan believes tlie line of bonlders which leaves 
the Tnrupike opposite the division line of the Cisco and Convent 
properties to be the line which divided the Vreeland farm between 
the two sons, 1798. 




THE KAUrE-HUXT-McXAMEE-DUXBAR-MAURAX HOfSE. THE OLDEST HOUSE 
XOW STAXDIXG OX GRTMES H11>L. BUILT ABCUT 1831-2. IT WAS STI1>ULATED 
IN THE DEED TO MAURAX THAT THE PRESEXT EDDY STREET AXD A PORTIUX 
OF HOWARD AVENUE SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED FOR HIS COXVEXIEXCE. EDDY 
STREET WAS NAMED AFTER MAURAX'S FATHER-IX-LA W, CHIEF JUSTICE EDDY 
OF RHODE ISLAXD. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



53 



his father-in-law, Samuel Eddy, chief jus- 
tice of Rhode Island. Mrs. Mauran died 
about 1855 3nd the house stood vacant for 
some time thereafter. 

Orondates Mauran died October 6, 1846, 
leaving a widow and nine children. James 
Eddy Mauran, the elder, was made execu- 
tor of the estate and in November, 1868, he 
sold the Hunt property to Edward E. Dun- 
bar and at the same time the remainder of 
the tract to William Butler Duncan. At the 
instance of Mr. Duncan it was agreed that 
the joint property of himself and Mr. Dun- 
bar should be restricted to residential pur- 
poses and that this restriction should be 
insisted on in future sales. 

Edward E. Dunbar married Sophia R. 
Sterry Mauran, a niece of O. Mauran. He 
died February 18, 1870, Mrs. Dunbar and 
two children, Edward Mauran Dunbar and 
Clyde Trippett Dunbar surviving him. In 
1 87 1 Mrs. Dunbar sold to William B. Dun- 
can. In 1875 Duncan (William B.), Sherman 
& Co. assigned and in 1881 James McNamee 
purchased the Hunt portion of the property. 
He died in 1896 and in the fall of 1899 
the widow sold to C. W. Hunt. 

June, 1913, Mrs. Hunt sold to W. Kaupe. 

The Hunt house was built in the most 
substantial manner. Its beams were hewn 
from oak trees that grew on the place and 
it is as sound and strong to-day as when 
erected over seventy-five years ago. Mr. 
Mauran called his home "Monocnong," an 
Indian word which the owner translated as 
meaning "surrounded by trees." The 
name does not now apply as formerly, as 
the hand of time has dealt heavily with the 
timber in these parts. In those days the 
entrance to the place was from Eddy street 



Eduard F.. 
Dunbar 



Monocnong 



54 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



/. C. 
Mauran 



Orondates 
Mauran 



and the front door of the house was on its 
north side. 

As in the case of the Anthon family the 
Mauran ancestor came to this country a 
prisoner. Joseph Carlo Mauran, a native of 
Villefranche, Italy, was impressed when 
twelve years old on board of a British man- 
of-war; he was kept a virtual prisoner for 
some two years, but while the vessel lay in 
the harbor of New London, he escaped and 
in the course of time found his way to Bar- 
rington, Rhode Island, where he settled 
down and took unto himself a wife. He 
soon tired of farming and took to the sea 
and by 1776 was a man of importance. 
During the early years of the Revolution, 
Rhode Island built two "row-galleys" both 
of which he commanded with honor to him- 
self; each carried a crew of fifty men, 
mounted one eighteen pounder and several 
swivel guns. In 1778 he received Lettres 
of Marque and Reprisal as commander of 
the private schooner of war, "Weazel," but 
after that we hear of him as a merchant- 
man. 

Oroondates or Orondates, as the name 
was later spelled, was born in Barrington 
in 1791. His singular name is accounted 
for as follows: His mother owned a book 
entitled "Rival Kings or the Loves of 
Oroondates and Statira," by John Banks, 
and it is supposed she confounded the name 
with Onorato, an old Mauran family name. 

Oroondates married Martha Eddy, and 
removed to New York where he went into 
some mercantile business. He was pas- 
sionately fond of music and was proprietor 
of the first Italian Opera House erected in 
New York. Among his other ventures was 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



55 



an interest with Commodore Cornelius Van- 
derbilt in the Staten Island ferry. Old 
Staten Islanders used to say that it was 
Mauran's money that first put the com- 
modore on his feet and gave him his start, 
but I do not know how much of fact there 
may be in this. 

He erected this house on Grymes Hill, 
then known as Castleton Heights, as a 
summer residence and as many opera 
singers and musicians from abroad brought 
letters to him, and as he was lavishly hos- 
pitable it is to be presumed that notables 
of the musical world were frequent visitors 
to this hilltop and that Monocnong was as 
musical as is its pleasant sounding name. 
One of his intimate friends was Captain 
Marryat who might easily have found in- 
spiration in our view for a background for 
some story. 

James Eddy Mauran, eldest son of above, 
was a noted antiquarian and scholar; while 
in New York he was a dealer in books, more 
particularly rare volumes of which he him- 
self was a large collector, he was also an 
authority on Fourteenth century matters and 
heraldry and was exceedingly clever in the 
art of inlaying prints for the purpose of extra 
illustration. 

James McNamee was bom in New York 
and graduated from Columbia at the head of 
his class. As a young man he was familiar 
with Staten Island and no sooner was he 
free to do so than he and Vanderbilt, 



daughter of Captain Jake, caused the 
preacher to say those mystic words which 
flatly contradict the multiplication table. 
In the course of time he purchased the 
Mauran property and resided here until his 
death. 



Jas. Eddy 
Mauran 



James 
McNaivec 



56 



HOWARD AVENUE (®. 



Chas. W. 
Hunt 



Mr. McNamee became prominent in the 
profession of the law, and was also some- 
thing of a politician though he appears to 
have been too honest to have been much of 
a success in the latter line ; in fact, his disin- 
clination to any but a straight course was 
so pronounced that he became more than 
distasteful to those who are disinterested 
enough to devote all their time to govern- 
ment. 

One of his chief hobbies was "good roads," 
and I am told that he worked long with the 
legislature at Albany in order to get a bill 
through which would deal fairly with the 
question and that the first good roads on the 
island were largely, if not wholly, due to 
his efforts. 

Captain Vanderbilt, his father-in-law, was 
everlastingly rubbing the wrong way such 
neighbors who owned fast horses as he met 
on the highway, for the Captain never could 
take anybody's dust and consequently he 
was much sought after by those who had 
claims for damages against him and Mr. Mc- 
Namee was kept busy defending him. 

Charles W. Hunt who came to Grymes 
Hill in igoo began his business career on 
Staten Island about 1868 in the storing and 
handling of coal. The clumsy methods then 
in use suggested to his inventive mind the 
present system of handling through the 
use of an automatic railroad by which coal 
is lifted from barges and carried back on an 
elevated track to be dumped automatically 
at any desired point. This led to other in- 
ventions and soon Mr. Hunt was one of 
the foremost men in his line, the handling 
and storage of coal in large quantities. 

The coal stations of the United States 
Navy at Guantanamo, Puget Sound and 



JJ 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



57 



Manila, as well as other large plants in South 
Africa, Europe and Australia, are of his cre- 
ation. His inventions reduced the cost of 
handling coal from 30 to 3 cents per ton. He 
also applied the principle to the handling of 
freight, and this by no means covers the list 
of his activities. As a mechanical engineer 
and inventor he was known throughout the 
world, and was a member of many societies 
and clubs which have to do with engineer- 
ing and its allied interests. 

Mr. Hunt's kindly and practical nature 
was early recognized when he was assigned 
by Secretary Stanton during the Civil War 
to the care of the thousands of negroes who 
flocked into the Union lines from the Southern 
states. These he taught to care for them- 
selves by furnishing work and teaching them 
to be self-supporting. 

An illuminating side light on the man's 
character is the way in which he used his 
holidays in photographing the old buildings 
of Staten Island. He went at it methodi- 
cally, filing the negatives as they were fin- 
ished under numbers so that any one of 
them could be found readily when wanted. 
A number ot the buildings so photographed 
have since been destroyed and these nega- 
tives are possibly the only records extant. 
Even his method of numbering the negatives 
was unique as the numbers used included 
the date on which the picture was taken 
making other record unnecessary. 

Opposite to the three last mentioned 
places stand the recently erected dwellings 
of William Horrmann and Thomas Avery 
Hine and Charles Gilbert Hine. They 
purchased together the Robert Bonner 
tract in July, 1909. All this property 
bounded on the east by the Richmond 



IV ni. 

Horrmann 
T. A. Hine 
C. G. Hine 



58 



HOWARD AVENUE (S. 



The 

Wonderful 
View 



road, on the south by the Strohmeyer, 
Drucklieb and Kendall properties, on the 
west by Duncan avenue and a continuing 
line through the Cisco property, and on the 
north by a line which includes most of the 
Cisco place, and all of the Davis property 
was sold in 1806 by Daniel C. Corson to 
James Dobson, who the same day sold to 
David Mercereau, and he to Daniel D. 
Tompkins in 18 14. 

The property of William Horrmann, ex- 
tending from Howard avenue to the old 
Richmond road, now Vanduzer street, con- 
sisted originally of three knolls of graduated 
height, whose rounded tops probably looked 
much as they did when the glaciers retired 
from this region. On the highest of these the 
house is set, its one hundred and twenty 
feet added to the three hundred and twenty 
feet which nature provides, elevates the 
"crow's nest" to a point in the upper air 
from which the horizon line can be seen 
around the complete circle — north, east, 
south and west — a glorious panorama. 

Grymes Hill has always been noted for 
its wonderful view and as we have reached 
the point from which the view is best ob- 
served from the road suppose we stop a 
moment in our mad career and attempt to 
grasp it. 

A distance of sky and wooded shore 
pleasantly dotted with country homes; a 
middle distance of water with passing sails 
and pennants of smoke, and a bit more near 
vessels at anchor — fishermen, square-rig- 
gers, and tramp steamers, the latter mostly 
Irish if one can judge by the evidences of 
red flannel, running through all shades to 
a sweaty pink, which exude from seeming 
rents in their outer garments. A fore- 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



59 



ground crowded with small homes set about 
with a certain abandon that harmonizes 
delightfully with the general lack of straight 
lines. 

Such is the impression after one has re 
covered from the first startling magnifi- 
cence of the picture and before he begins 
to discover its lesser details. 

Toward the north we see west of the 
Statue of Liberty, Jersey City and the 
Palisades of the Hudson when the weather 
and the smoke permit, the Upper Bay and 
the jagged peaks of New York, the Brook- 
lyn Bridge, and the City of Homes itself. 
At our feet lies the village of Stapleton, 
beyond, the Narrows and Bay Ridge, and 
the early riser can see the morning sun 
glisten on Jamaica Bay ; further to the south 
is to be noted Gravesend Bay, Coney Is- 
land and the Atlantic Ocean, whose far 
horizon line is about twenty-five miles dis- 
tant. Still further toward the right lies 
Sandy Hook, the Lower Bay and the blue 
Highlands. 

At night there are within view from here 
eight lighthouses and two light-ships — the 
Highland light, the two lights on Sandy 
Hook, Romer Shoal light. West Bank light, 
the red flash of Norton's Point at the west 
end of Coney Island, and toward the north 
Robbins Reef light and the double red light 
on Castle William, Governor's Island; the 
Ambrose Channel light-ship twenty miles 
away, a flashing white light on the horizon 
above the western point of Coney Island, 
and the Scotland lightship, one steady white 
light, only to be seen on exceptionally clear 
nights. Before the land held so many 
electric lights it was possible to catch the 
glow from the Fire Island light, forty miles 



Ex lent of 
the View 



Eight Light- 
houses and 
two Light- 
Ships 



60 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



distant, but in these days the competition 
is too keen. 
The View ^^^ view from this hill at night is one of 

at Night the wonders of the world ; to see the moon 
rise from the ocean above the summer lights 
of Coney Island is a liberal education in art. 
Coney Island is as though the Gods had set 
the stars in fantastic design for some celes- 
tial festival; the Shore Road is platted in 
brilliant points which outline the further 
side of the Narrows, the streets running 
back into Bay Ridge are festoons of sparkles. 
When we are to have a southerly wind all 
these lights wink in such knowing fashion 
that there is no mistaking the signal. New 
York's brilliant array is capped by the 
Singer Building while the Metropolitan 
tower flashes the time to us each fifteen 
minutes. Both north and south the water 
is alive with winking gas buoys, while tugs 
and steamers trying to turn an honest penny 
are so many fireflies on the wing. 

The heavenly bodies descended to earth 
lie at our feet; again the Dipper points the 
way to the North Star. What though the 
latter be an arc light does it not help the 
belated wayfarer to lay a course for home, 
its celestial prototype does no more for the 
mariner. But probably the lights behind 
shaded windows furnish the greatest op- 
portunity to the prophetic soul. There 
they lie, so many winking eyes, as shadowy 
figures pass and repass telling of home and 
fireside or, as time grows late, suggesting 
to one a sick bed, to another love's young 
dream, both calling for late hours and low- 
turned lights I am informed. 

To sit here of a quiet summer night and 
catch the subdued murmur from the val- 
ley, the call of children at play, blending 




AS THE DAYS BEGIN TO SHORTEN THE FIRST WARM RAYS OF THE EARLY 
SUN ON THE NIGHT-CHILLED EARTH BRING FORTH VAPORS THAT CONSPIRE 
WITH THE SMOKE FROM MANY BREAKFAST FIRES TO SOFTEN THE ANGLES OP 
STAPLETON. THE DISTANT OBJECTS. SUGGESTED RATHER THAN SEEN. ARE 
NOT BELATED SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT. BUT RATHER SUBSTANTIAL SHAPES 
OF WOOD AND IRON THAT BRING TO THIS PORT MUCH SPOIL FROM FOREIGN 
LANDS. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



61 



No Other 
View Com- 
pares With 
It 



with the joyous barking of distant dogs 
is enough to endow the bosom of a wooden 
Indian with sentiment. 

Travelers generally compare this view to 
that from Mount Vesuvius over the Bay 
of Naples and usually to the disadvantage 
of the latter. There is undoubtedly no 
spot in the world where so much of beauty 
and human interest combine to hold the at- 
tention. It must be seen many times and 
under varying conditions to be fully ap- 
preciated. All the commerce of the greatest 
city and port of the country passes through 
our backyard — the Narrows — great steam- 
ers accumulate during the night until it 
is no unusual thing for the rising sun to 
look down on a dozen or fifteen of the lar- 
gest passenger carriers the world knows, 
waiting for the visit of the Quarantine doc- 
tors to set them free. When we consider 
that the loss of the Titanic was estimated, 
vessel and contents, at many millions, some 
idea of the enormous values that pass be- 
fore us may be had. 

The early morning fog and mist effects 
give us some of the most exquisite pic- 
tures that the mind can conceive, and the 
gorgeous sunrises that so often introduce 
our days are of infinite variety. Allow me 
to quote Robert Browning for a brief space : 
"Day! 
Faster and more fast. 
O'er night's brim, day boils at last; 
Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud-cup's brim 
Where spurting and suppressed it lay: 
For not a froth-flake touched the rim 
Of yonder gap in the solid gray 
Of the eastern cloud, an hour away; 
But forth one wavelet, then another, 
curled, 



Early Morn- 
ing Effects 



62 



HOWARD AVENUE CBb 



Variety of 
the View. 



Till the whole sunrise, not to be sup- 
pressed, 
Rose, reddened, and its seething breast 
Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then over- 
flowed the world." 

Under the action of a strong wind I have 
seen the fog peeled off the surface of the 
water as one might lift a sheet from a bed. 
But possibly the most weird and startling 
fog effect is confined to a gully on the 
eastern slope of this hill just south of Eddy 
street. The currents of air steal up and 
down this depression without much regard 
to what the wind is doing elsewhere and 
when the fog is abroad it is sometimes 
gently wafted back and forth through this 
trough in a way to give a sensitive person 
the creeps. Particularly is this so when 
the occurrence happens after dark — the 
gliding of this mystic white figure about the 
hill slope in the quiet of the night can never 
be forgotten once it is seen. 

Immediately beneath us spreads a hillside 
rough hewn by the elements which carries 
an extremely sparse vegetation. As the 
grass here takes on a warm tint with which 
to meet the coming crispness of fall we have 
a singularly beautiful effect when the 
rainy day comes, then the wind animates 
the dullest blade among them, the wet fresh- 
ens the greens and reds and browns with 
their varying shades until the life and color 
are a magical sight. While the wandering 
footpath that is ever seeking an easier way 
or the glisten of a wet boulder gives point 
and character to the foreground, for the 
rumpled land is but a foreground after all, 
leading the eye on to the jumbled homes and the 
busy thoroughfare we know as the Narrows. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



63 



No one description can fit this ever chang- 
ing picture. Sometimes it is the gray light 
of early evening with gray clouds above a 
blue film spread over the houses beneath us, 
and quiet gray water beyond, picked out with 
a square-rigger or two and a handful of 
tramp steamers. 

Or it is all lines. The brown smoke lies 
in level lines, the quiet waters carry long 
slicks, distant Jamaica Bay is another line, 
the clouds help, most of the visible roadways 
of the village middle-distance run north and 
south carrying out the effect. Some tall 
smokestacks, the city dock, masts of vessels 
and the derricks of the wrecking company 
but add a few bits of cross-hatching. 

The George H. Kendall place, "Kenwood," 
Madame Suzette Grymes purchased in 1836. 
Before the Civil War Staten Island was a 
notable resort for Southerners and that prob- 
ably accounts for the discovery of Grymes 
Hill by Madame Grymes. This wilderness 
was just beginning to blossom into a home- 
land. Major Howard's dwelling had been 
standing about five years, his real estate boom 
was well under way and the Mauran house 
had also been erected, when Madame 
Grymes "in jack boots, girded up her skirts, 
and with axe in hand struck out a clearing 
for her future home." 

Before becoming the wife of John Ran- 
dolph Grymes, a noted New Orleans law- 
yer, the lady was the widow of Governor 
Claiborne of Louisiana. So far as can be 
learned Mr. Grymes seldom visited these 
parts. 

The real estate records show that during 
the years 1836 to 1843 Madame Grymes 
made four purchases of property on the 



Kenwood 

Suzette 
Grymes 



1836 



64 



HOWARD AVENUE CS. 



Capo 

di Monte 



IV m. Butler 
Duncan 



George H. 
Kendall 



Suzette 
Grytnes 



west side of Howard avenue including 
some twenty acres for which she paid 
$8,300; and during the years 1839 to 1846 
three purchases between the avenue and 
the Richmond road for which she paid 
$7,400. William Butler Duncan has told 
me that she erected the house on the west 
side of the road first; Mr. C. Drucklieb has 
been told by members of the family that the 
house on the east side was the first. The 
shape of the former tends to confirm Mr. 
Duncan as it looks like the creation of a 
Southerner who would naturally place the 
rooms so as to catch every breath of air, 
and the first purchases of property were 
here, and further one of the deeds, 1845 or 
1846, of the lower property is to Suzette 
Grymes "of Capo di Monte," the name she 
gave to her hilltop dwelling. 

In 1846, John R. Grymes gave Suzette 
Grymes a power of attorney to rent, sell or 
mortgage any or all of the property, giving 
as a reason the fact that a large portion of 
his time was spent out of the state of New 
York and that his wife was permanently a 
resident of said state. 

In 1858, William Butler Duncan purchased 
the place from Madame Grymes and made 
it his home until 1896, when it was sold to 
George H. Kendall. The place contained 
twenty acres. 

Members of the Grymes family have failed 
to respond to requests for information con- 
cerning Madame Suzette Grymes and it has 
been necessary to fall back on such slender 
facts as have been gleaned from a few long 
memories and from official records. The 
pickings are somewhat scant. 

Madame Grymes was of Spanish descent, 
her maiden name being Bosque. She 




THE KEXDALL-DUXCAX-GRYMES HOUSE. ERECTED 183C-7 B^ MADAME 
SUZETTE GRYMES, WHO CALLED HER PLACE CAPO DI MONTE. FOR A SHORT 
SPACE THE ENTIRE HILL WAS SO CALLED, THE PRESENT APPELLATION 
HAVING BEEN ADOPTED MORE RECENTLY. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



65 



married William C. C. Claiborne, governor 
of the territory of Mississippi and after his 
death married John Randolph Grymes, 
a lawyer, of New Orleans. Their children 
were : — 

1. Medora, who married Samuel Ward of 

New York. 

2. Edgar. 

3. Alfred. 

4. Athenaise, who married Louis A. von 

Hoffman. 

A mysterious "Mable" is referred to in 
the will of Louis A. von Hoffman, but as 
her name does not appear in the genealog- 
ical records of the Grymes family it is not 
clear who she was. 

A codicil of the von Hoffman will disposes 
of "principal and income of a certain fund to 
me paid over by Suzette Grymes, now de- 
ceased, the mother of my late wife, which 
said fund was by me received in accordance 
with the following instructions in writing to 
me at the time given by the donor thereof". 
Translation of Madam Grymes's instruc- 
tions which are given in the will in the 
original French. 

"I have given this day 20 thousand francs 
to my son-in-law Louis von Hoffman. I 
made him a present of it until his death and 
then this sum will go to Mabel but not 
before, because she will spend it in dresses 
and hats. He can do with this sum what he 
wants, increase it or invest it. I beg him to 
give some little interest to Mabel, as a little 
present which comes from me." 

Madame Grymes is recalled as a heavily 
built woman, very strong and masculine, 
and with a peppery temper that would have 
done honor to the scrappiest of "red-headed 
Macs," and a vocabulary equally as forcible. 



66 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



Wm. B. 
Duncan 



F. G. 

Strohmeyer 



Alfred 
Grymes 



C. Drucklieb 

L. A. von 
Hoffman 



but like many such she was kindly to a 
degree and very fond of children. Some of 
the present day gray-heads recall with lively 
satisfaction her Christmas liberality which 
appears to have been as free as salvation. 

When William Butler Duncan purchased 
the property the four corner wings were 
merely one story in height; he transformed 
one of these into the present tower and 
added a story to each of the others; it was 
Mr. Duncan who erected the present stone 
wall 

Mr. Duncan's father was a native of Scot- 
land, but came to this country in his youth 
and married a Miss Butler of Providence. 
The son graduated from Brown University 
in i860 and five years later became the head 
of the banking firm of Duncan, Sherman and 
Company. He had many prominent friends 
and was visited by King Edward VII, then 
the Prince of Wales, when the latter was in 
this country and it is possible that the 
Prince was entertained in the Grymes Hill 
home as were many other notables. Among 
such was the first Lord Rosebery who it was 
understood was engaged to a daughter of 
Mr, Duncan; the visitor was taken sick 
while here and returned home to die. The 
daughter later married the Honorable 
Mr. Phipps. 

Opposite, on the other side of our high- 
\way, lie the Strohmeyer and Drucklieb prop- 
erties. The home of Mr. F. G. Strohmeyer, 
which is two-thirds of the way down the 
hill, was erected before 1845 by Alfred 
Grymes, son of Madame Grymes. It passed 
from his possession into that of the pres- 
ent owner. 

The C. Drucklieb house is the former 
home of Louis A. von Hoffman, a son-in-law 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



of Madame Grymes. This is one of the 
most beautifully wooded hillsides imagi- 
nable. The present owner is constantly re- 
foresting his domain, as he believes in mak- 
ing two trees grow where one grew before. 
Originally Mr. Drucklieb only purchased 
the northern end of his present holdings and 
the house close on the road, now occupied 
by Mr. W. H. Pouch, was erected by him 
for dwelling purposes, but having acquired 
the larger domain Mr. Drucklieb removed 
to the von Hoffman-Grymes house which 
he still occupies. 

The decided bend in the road which puts 
a kink in the Kendall stone wall hereabouts 
is that particular spot spoken of elsewhere 
at which Howard avenue and the Serpentine 
road become one. If I am correctly in- 
formed the Serpentine road is not so named 
because it reminds one of the trail of the 
serpent, though it might well be, but be- 
cause it passes over a stratum of rather rare 
rock known as serpentine; the rock, how- 
ever, is so named because it often occurs 
in winding, irregular veins and possibly 
the road thus received its cue. 

There are more exotics dwelling along 
this way than those who live in houses made 
with hands. Here, for instance, when 
spring comes to us, can be found the Amer- 
ican Star Thistle which has been natural- 
ized from the dry plains of Missouri and 
the southwest. Its red buttons add a 
pleasant touch to the garments in which old 
Mother Earth clothes herself in these parts. 

From the beginning of the Drucklieb 
property to the Cunard gateway we catch 
but glimpses of the view through the trees. 
The sun glistening on the Lower Bay makes 
a brilliant background for the tall columns 



67 



M'\ H. 
Pouch 



Howard Av. 
Ends 

The Serpen- 
tine Road 
Begins 



68 



HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



Chas. E. 

Seitz 



Thos. 
Nesmith 

J. P. 
Nesmith 



Col. George 
Browne 



upholding the roof of green above us, and 
these in turn break the expanse into in- 
numerable small pictures where a bit of 
canvas or the long, black trail of a passing 
steamer furnishes the motif; or possibly 
some ponds in the low country shine like 
bright, particular stars under the touch of 
the same illuminating hand. 

El Paradiso, the property of Chas. E. 
Seitz, is the next place on the left. This 
was originally the home of John P. Nesmith 
while Thomas Nesmith lived just beyond. 

Thomas Nesmith made the first purchase 
in April, 1836; John P. purchased in Sep- 
tember, 1840. The Nesmiths continued to 
purchase property up to 1865, some fifty 
parcels in all, until they not only owned 
everything between the Grymes and 
Cunard-Vanderbilt places and the Rich- 
mond road and Clove road and the Turn- 
pike, but also purchased beyond the Turn- 
pike to the shores of Silver lake in the one 
direction and east of the Richmond road in 
the other. The description of one piece of 
property, 1844, which lay along the Rich- 
mond road includes "a marked cedar tree 
near the foot of Brimstone Hill." 

The Nesmiths are identified in some of the 
deeds as of the city of New York, merchant. 
In a deed dated in 1865 Thomas Nesmith is 
spoken of as of Derry, N. H, ; it is a com- 
mon family name in those parts and the 
family may have come from New Hamp- 
shire originally. 

May 18, 1866, John P. Nesmith sold his 
home, which he called "Inwood", to Joanna 
C. Browne, wife of Col. George Browne, 
she in 1874 to William B. Ogden. In 1881 
Anna B. A. Shaw, "widow, of the city of 
Philadelphia," purchased and placed the 




THE SERPEXTIXE ROAD. I.OOKIXG NORTH FROM THE GATE OF THE OLD 
JOHN P. XESMITH PLACE. THE BEND IN THE DISTANCE MARKS THE NORTHERN 
END OF THE SERPEXTIXE ROAD. AT THAT POIXT THE ROAD FORMERLY 
PLUXGED DOWX HILL TO RICHMOND ROAD AT BROAD STREET, AND HOWARD 
AVENUE RAN INTO IT AND STOPPED. THE LOWER PART OF THE ROAD WAS 
LATER ABANDOXED AXD ROAD AXD AVEXUE BECAME ONE. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 69 



property in trust for her son, Edward H. 
Shaw of New York; in 1890 Amzi L. Bar- 
ber became the owner, but sold the same 
year to George H. Kendall, and he in 1902 
to the present owner. 

Sheriff Denyse tells the following story, 
but does not recall to which one of the 
Nesmiths it applies. Pat Henry, a con- 
tractor, undertook to dig a well for one of 
the Nesmith houses, he agreeing not to 
ask for his money until he could show water, 
but after reaching a depth of forty or fifty 
feet without even getting damp feet he tired 
of his bargain and selecting a dark night 
proceeded to cart the desired element from 
some pond. In the morning the guileless 
Mr. Nesmith was shown his four feet of 
water in his well and Pat got his money 
and retired. In the course of a few days 
the water likewise retired and left the 
owner with a perfectly good hole in the 
ground, and such reflections as would 
naturally go with the situation. 

As stated above Thomas Nesmith pur- 
chased in April, 1836. His home which stood 
south of his brother's place was known as 
"Cedar Cliff". By or before 1867 this prop- 
erty came into the possession of Eugene 
Dutilh, a New York banker. In 1889 Louise 
T., wife of Alexander Barring, sold to Mrs. 
Winnifred F., wife of Robert A. Ammon of 
Tompkinsville, for $6,500, this included the 
house and furniture and twelve acres of 
land. 

Christmas eve, 1894, the house burned. 
The fire caught during the absence of the 
owner and while Mrs. Ammon was arrang- 
ing a Christmas tree for the children and 
was attributed to a lantern in the hands of 
the gardener. 



Thos. 
Wcsinith 



Eugene 
Dutilh 



R. A. 

Amnion 



70 



HOW^ARD AVENUE CSt, 



Serpentine 
Road 



Mr. Amnion's desire for riches exceeded 
his ability to keep out of trouble and for a 
considerable period he figured prominently 
in the New York papers. During the days 
of his prosperity he purchased considerable 
property hereabouts until he owned all the 
property along the south side of the Ser- 
pentine road to the King place, which he 
also purchased in igoi. 

No one can be expected to appreciate the 
full beauty of this region until he sees it on 
some showery day when those who do not 
know enough to go out when it rains are 
snugged up at home. Then the adven- 
turous one has it all to himself or at least 
only divides with the small, wild things. 
It is surprising how careless of the pro- 
prieties these are at such a time, for it 
seems to be with particular gusto that they 
scamper along wet boughs or through the 
watery grass. At such a time a little brown 
bunny is just as apt as not to sit up on the 
path and wave his paws at one as though 
he were quite ready to spar it out then and 
there, or a gray squirrel perched on a near- 
by branch will wink an eye with a demure 
solemnity that is quite fetching. 

Somehow these incautious doings never 
seem to happen when the sun shines and it 
has occurred to me that the lesser denizens 
of the wood have heard of the old admo- 
nition to keep one's powder dry and still 
labor under the impression that modern 
shooting irons do not work at such a time. 
But whatever the reason they go skylarking 
around the woods like so many small boys 
when teacher reports sick; and the birds 
are not one whit more serious-minded. 

For a short space now the Serpentine 
road is a typical winding, woodland road, 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



71 



showing only such evidences of modern 
civilization as its macadam bed and bor- 
dering telegraph poles furnish. No fence 
confines the traveler but trees on either 
hand rise up to call it blessed and those so 
inclined may take to the woods without 
let or hindrance. 

Here we gaze down the wooded slopes of 
Pleasant Valley, a name which does not 
convey much but serves as a handle. This 
furnishes Hillside avenue a means of reach- 
ing the lower regions, and also lends some- 
thing of variety to the view, for one can 
not only see through but over the trees and 
when a morning sun puts a glitter on the 
far ocean horizon line, a very good excuse 
is furnished the stroller to stop for a brief 
rest. 

On the right, opposite Hillside avenue, 
stands the R. A. Ammon dwelling, "Fair 
Acres". The property was purchased by Rev. 
Gordon Winslow in 1846 from John P. 
Nesmith who also granted a right of way 
over "an intended road" which led "to the 
road opposite the house of the said John P. 
Nesmith." This accounts for so much of 
the Serpentine road. In 1870 the widow of 
Gordon Winslow sold to Edward King and 
in 1 90 1 he to Mrs. R. A. Ammon. 

The Reverend Gordon Winslow came to 
Staten Island in 1845, being driven here by 
bronchial trouble. He purchased about ten 
acres of land and erected a simple house in 
which he spent the remainder of his days, 
except during the Civil War period. He 
was a graduate of Yale, 1830, where he also 
studied theology, but later turned to the 
creed of the Episcopalian. He became rec- 
tor of St. Paul's and chaplain of the Quar- 
antine, holding the latter position for sev- 



Pleasan I 



Rer. Gordon 
Wiitslozv 



72 



HOWARD AVENUE CSt, 



enteen years and being highly regarded be- 
cause of his devotion to the sick during the 
yellow fever epidemic. 

When the Fifth New York, known as the 
"Duryea Zouaves" went to the front, Gordon 
Winslow went as the chaplain; from the 
first his record stands a shining mark, none 
surpassed him in bravery or devotion to the 
wounded. Note what the officer in com- 
mand reported after the battle at Big 
Bethel: "The noble conduct of Chaplain 
Winslow and the generous-hearted men 
who remained to help the wounded de- 
serves the highest praise; and the toilsome 
task which they accomplished, of dragging 
the rude vehicles filled with their helpless 
comrades, over a weary road of nine miles 
in their exhausted condition, with the pros- 
pect of an attack every minute, bespeaks a 
goodness of heart and a bravery never ex- 
celled." James Parton speaking of the same 
incident says: "The noble Chaplain Wins- 
low, with a few other men, remained be- 
hind, and, all exhausted as they were, drew 
the wounded in wagons nine miles from the 
scene of the action to the nearest camp." 

Some two years later, Major-General War- 
ren, in a report issued in January, 1863, 
summarizes his deeds as follows: — 

"From the first battle of the war at Big 
Bethel to the last at Fredericksburg, Dr. 
Winslow has shown an adaptability for his 
position, and a success in efforts which has 
won the confidence of all. At an early day 
he was elected by the Sanitary Commis- 
sion at Washington for the responsible posi- 
tion of the Sanitary Inspector of the Army. 
This immense labor he sustained till the 
commencement of the Peninsular campaign, 
for which he received the earnest thanks 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



73 



of the Department at Washington. Since 
the commencement of the Peninsular cam- 
paign he has been my aid and a member of 
my staff, and has been constantly with me 
on the field, except when the claims of 
humanity and mercy called him to attend 
to the sufferings of his fallen comrades. His 
efforts in this department I most gratefully 
acknowledge. For days and nights after 
the battles of Williamsburg, Hanover Court 
House, Gaines Mills, Malvern Hill, Bull 
Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg, the 
doctor has had frequent recourse to his ex- 
perience to guide him to the best measures 
of improving hospitals for the wounded, or 
means of comfort and solace, which at such 
times of trial cannot be too highly valued." 

He is spoken of by those who knew him 
when he lived on the hill as a pretty good 
doctor (of medicine), a good nurse, a taxi- 
dermist, hunter, fisherman and nature-lover; 
a genial, agreeable and instructive com- 
panion with mind and manners finely culti- 
vated. 

Dr. Winslow's elder son. Col. Cleveland 
Winslow, of the Fifth New York, was badly 
wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, 
and while bringing him and other wounded 
officers and men to Alexandria the doctor 
lost his life, June 7, 1864, at the mouth of 
the Potomac. He fell overboard from the 
transport steamer Mary Ripley, and after 
swimming for some time, suddenly disap- 
peared as he was about to be rescued. The 
remains were never found. 

The son mentioned above died in the hos- 
pital at Alexandria one month after the 
death of his father. Of him Major-General 
Warren reported, "I have never known a 
braver officer." 



Col. 

Cleveland 

Winslow 



74 



Edward 
King 



Gen. Wni. 
G. Ward 



HOWARD AVENUE (®. 



Edward King was the well-known New 
York banker, president of the Union Trust. 
He owned this property for about thirty- 
one years. 

When Mr. King decided to quit he ad- 
vertised that the place would be sold at 
auction and that half of the purchase price 
would be allowed to stand on mortgage. 
Much to his chagrin Ammon bought the 
place in on a bid of $8,000. Immediately 
Mr. King, who had a strong dislike for the 
purchaser, decided that if possible he would 
avoid holding the mortgage and called in 
his legal adviser, Mr. DeWitt Stafford, 
charging him to meet Ammon and, if possi- 
ble, persuade him to pay the entire amount. 
They met in the real estate oifice of Mr. 
Cornell in Stapleton and Ammon when 
questioned said he would pay the $8,000 if 
Mr, King would deduct the $100 he had paid 
for searching the title. This was readily 
agreed to, whereupon the new owner pulled 
an immense roll of bills from his pocket and 
counted out $7,900 in cash which he turned 
o/er. Mr. King was greatly delighted with 
the result until the lawyer suggested that 
this was no doubt part of the ill-gotten gains 
of the Miller Syndicate, when his joy was 
much abated. 

Here again did fire come to mar the per- 
fect peace of the new owner. On November 
30, 1 90 1 a barn in which was stored con- 
siderable furniture was destroyed by a fire 
of supposed incendiary origin. Mr. Ammon 
thought it might have been started by a 
discharged coachman. A reward was offered 
by the insurance companies interested, but 
nothing came of it. 

Next stands the former home of General 
William G. Ward, erected by him in 1865 on 



SERPENTINE ROAD 



75 



a twenty-acre plot purchased from one of 
the Nesmith brothers. Ha called his place 
"Oneata", a Seminole word brought from the 
Dry Tortugas by a friend of the family, a 
Doctor Storrow, and which he translated to 
mean "Kissed by the dawn". When a young 
man in college the General used to visit the 
hill. He and John Anthon were friends and 
Miss Ward thinks that Doctor Winslow 
acted as tutor for her father at this time, 
a double incentive to draw him here. Be- 
fore building he rented the Winslow house 
for three or four summers. 

A brief biography of General Ward gives 
an outline of his services as follows: April 
19 to August 4, 1 86 1, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Twelfth Regiment N. Y. S. M. May 31 to 
October 8, 1862, Colonel of the same regi- 
ment. Participated in the defense of 
Harpers Ferry and was paroled at its sur- 
render, September 25, 1862. Exchanged 
January 11, 1863. June 17 to July 22, 1863, 
Colonel of the same regiment, being in 
Dana's Division and Couche's Corps in the 
Pennsylvania campaign. He partly in- 
vented and partly improved the Ward- 
Burton breech-loading rifle. 

The Bellevue. Sir Edward Cunard, Jr., 
married a granddaughter of Thomas Addis 
Emmett; the latter purchased property in 
1850 on this end of the hill from John Mell 
and the same year sold a portion to Sir 
Edward, who erected the present house. 
Presumably it was he who adopted the name 
"Bellevue". Mr. Cunard was American 
manager of the Cunard line and could 
readily see from his home the vessels of his 
line pass in and out. 

The next tenants were cousins of the 
owner, Allen by name, two or three 



Sir Edward 
Cunard 



76 



HOWARD AVENUE (®. 



Bachelors' 
Club 



Am si 
Barber 



Capt. 

Jacob H. 

Vandcrbilt 



bachelor brothers. These gathered other 
disciples of St. Anthony about them, and 
the place was for a time known as the 
"Bachelors' Club". Either at this time or 
later Sir Oliver Northcut was a tenant. In 
the course of time the place fell into the 
hands of Amzi Barber, of asphalt fame, 
and still remains in the possession of his 
heirs. 

Captain Jacob Hand Vanderbilt, com- 
monly known to all the island as "Captain 
Jake", was, the histories tell us, bom Sep- 
tember 2, 1807, in the old house on Bay 
street. Staple ton, known as the Vanderbilt 
homestead, which is still standing. By the 
time he had reached the age of eighteen 
years he was in command of a steamboat. 
He died in 1882. 

The Captain purchased this property in 
1847 and erected the house which burned 
about 1904 while being used as an annex 
to the Bellevue. 

He was one of the best known men of the 
island and being free in his hospitality enter- 
tained many celebrities including such men 
as General U. S. Grant and others. 

Every one recalls "Captain Jake" as a 
lover of fast horses and many are the stories 
told to this end. That part of his property 
which lay over against the Cunard holdings 
and bordered on the Serpentine road was 
known as the "Paddock". It was here that 
his horses spent their leisure hours, and 
many a boaster has come to grief in this 
inclosure when bidden to show his skill on 
the back of some particularly lively friend 
of the Captain's. To refuse an invitation to 
mount was even worse, for then the owner's 
wrath was even as that fire which never 
shall be quenched. 




VIEW FROM THE SERPENTINE ROAD OVER THE LOWER BAY. ONE OP THE 
MANY DAZZLING PICTURES WHICH THE MORNING SUN LAVISHES ON THIS 
REGION. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 77 



Pretty much every one on the road took 
the Captain's dust, even Wall Street did it 
once and this is how it came about and how 
the trouble was mended. On the advice of 
brother Cornelius, Jake made an investment 
in stocks which netted him a handsome loss, 
due chiefly to the fact that the stock did not 
rise to the occasion, and thereafter brotherly 
love between the two was as difficult to 
locate as native ore in a salted mine. As 
a result Jake ceased his Sunday custom of 
dropping in on big brother for tea and the 
situation was just the reverse of the quality 
of mercy as elucidated by Mr. Shakespeare. 

Some time thereafter as the Captain 
stepped on the boat one afternoon for the 
voyage home, he saw a handsome team of 
black horses hitched to a light road wagon 
that made his heart glad and promptly pro- 
ceeded to investigate by asking the darkey 
driver where he was going, to which came 
the brief but enlightening response, "Staten 
Island." At this our friend sputtered a bit 
in his usual Sunday-school fashion, but 
made no headway beyond relieving his feel- 
ings by consigning the negro to what the 
new Baptist version of the Bible calls the 
"underworld." 

Arriving at his home, he found the darky 
and rig awaiting him at his own door with 
an olive branch from brother Cornelius 
which gave him to understand that this was 
for him and which wound up with the ad- 
vice, "Don't be a damned fool ; come around 
to the house and have tea." Jake rubbed his 
hands over the beautiful, glossy coats of the 
animals and, concluding to let the dead bury 
the dead, simply remarked, "Well, they cost 
me $40,000." But the breech was walled up 



78 



HOWARD AVENUE ®, 



Vale 
Snowden 

Mrs. W. S. 
Nichols 



Fred'k Law 
Olmstead 



and the brothers again dwelt together in 
unity. 

"Vale Snowden", which comers on the 
Clove road, is the home of Mrs. William 
Snowden Nichols. The house was erected 
by Satterthwaite about 1852-1854 and was 
purchased by Mr. Nichols in 1864. The 
architect was James Renwick, mentioned in 
connection with the Davis place, and the 
grounds were laid out by Frederick Law 
Olmstead. 

Mrs. Nichols tells me that General Green, 
one time minister to Russia, and who was 
associated with Mr. Olmstead in the laying 
out of Central Park, once said that Mr. Olm- 
stead and Mr. Satterthwaite were friends and 
that the former gained a large part of his 
practical knowledge as a landscape architect 
in the laying out of this place. Originally it 
was a most unpromising spot, a mass of 
soapstone (serpentine), and it required the 
work of eight yoke of oxen almost a year to 
haul sufficient earth from the top of the hill 
to make a foundation for the garden. 

A well which is situated almost in front 
of the house and very near the road was, ac- 
cording to local tradition, a regular stopping 
place for the Philadelphia stages. Mrs. 
Nichols does not know anything more than 
that this statement came from Mr. Satter- 
thwait. It is possible that there may have 
been an inn on the Little Clove road here, 
but if so there does not appear to be any 
record concerning it. 

Mrs. Nichols recalls that the Richmond 
County Country Club grew out of an in- 
formal riding and driving club which used 
this place as a rendezvous, as the younger 
members of her family took a lively interest 
in its formation and development. 



SERPENTINE ROAD 79 



LAST WORD OF ALL. 

One could visit this hill-top a hundred 
times and never see the view as I have at- 
tempted to describe it, nor, in fact, see it 
twice alike, so many things enter into its 
make-up, — weather conditions, time of day 
or night, season of the year; the possible 
combinations are almost without number. 

The visitor might happen on a time when 
an east wind was driving a thin fog up the 
hill, one moment revealing the village be- 
low, another crowding everything but the 
earth on which he stood off the map, merely 
allowing fleeting glimpses of the beyond, 
and then the hurrying legions of the mist 
charging upon the sight until all is lost 
again. 

It is like the animated face of beauty, ever 
changing yet always the same, and never 
uninteresting. Only a poet could hope to 
do the subject justice, and he must be no 
mere juggler of words. 




80 HOWARD AVENUE (®, 



WHY THERE ARE OMISSIONS! 

In the gathering of information for such a 
purpose as this there is no point that one may 
reach with the feeling that nothing more is 
possible. There is always some will-o'-the- 
^visp in the distance that leads on to further 
investigation and always the feeling that some- 
where is an uncovered treasury of facts. 

People come and go rapidly. The work on 
this book has been progressing some two and 
one-half to three years and even in that short 
space three men have died from whom I had 
secured some information and hoped for more, 
and two others have become incapacitated. 

I have a strong feeling that the southern 
end of the hill has not been covered as it 
should be. Rumors have come that some 
artist who was later renowned used, in his 
more obscure days, the lodge at the John P. 
Nesmith gate as a dwelling and studio, but 
who he v^as has not been learned. It is said 
that the head gardener on the Cunard place 
was an interesting character that was worth 
a book in himself. I do not even kno^v his 
name. And so there is much that even such 
a willing and capacious swallovv^ as mine can- 
not quite accommodate itself to. 

Consequently there comes a time when such 
work must be cut off short and the draggled 
ends trimmed into shape as best may be. And 
this has very recently happened to the History, 
etc., of Howard avenue and the Serpentine 
road. 

C G. HINE. 

March 17, 1914. 







.0^ 



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A^ 






























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up. , -^ 







